Davutoglu’s Armenian advisor leaves post due to age

Etyen Mahçupyan, an ethnic Armenian adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu , is no longer formally serving in the position.

Mahchupyan, the first Turkish--Armenian to be a prime ministerial adviser, is no longer in the post due to legal restrictions on age, Today’s Zaman reports, citing Hürriyet daily's website.

“I am currently abroad and I continue my work [as a prime ministerial adviser]. The only difference is that I no longer get paid,” he told Hürriyet.

Mahchupyan, appointed to his post by Davutoglu in October 2014, created a stir when he said it was impossible not to accept that Armenians were subject to genocide during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

“It is impossible not to describe what was done to the Armenians in 1915 as genocide while what happened in Bosnia and Africa is accepted as genocide,” Mahçupyan reportedly told a website, karar.com, earlier this week.

He also defended Pope Francis' characterization of the 1915 events as “the first genocide of the 20th century,” saying the Vatican has finally dispensed with a “100-year psychological burden.”