Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reacted negatively to Pope Francis’ reference to “genocide” to characterize the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman empire during the second year of WWI in 1915.

Cavusoglu tweeted that the remarks, considered unprecedented for a Roman Catholic Pontiff, were “devoid of any historical or legal facts. Religious posts are not for fueling grudge and hatred with baseless claims,” according to the semi-official Anadolu agency in Ankara.

The Turkish government later summoned the Vatican’s envoy to the country, Antonio Lucibello, to complain that the statement caused a “loss of trust” and would be given a response.

Pope Francis made his historic Armenian genocide statement on Sunday from St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

Francis’ statement read: “In the past century, our human family has lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies … The first, which is widely considered the first genocide of the 20th century, struck your own Armenian people, the first Christian nation, as well as Catholic and Orthodox Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Greeks and, more,” a wide-ranging condemnation of the extermination of Asia Minor’s Christian peoples.

The mass daily Zaman reported that Ankara expressed its “deep sorrow and disappointment” over the comments.