The latest “My Apologies” initiative of a group of Turkish intellectuals who decided to offer personal apologies to the Armenian people for the Genocide of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire has elicited a wide international response.

A petition to which all who wish may join is uploaded on the website www.ozurdiliyoruz.com. During the first 24 hours of the website’s operation, more than 5,000 people signed upt, including more than 200 Turkish journalists, political scientists, historians, musicians, scholars.

Nevertheless, the petition available in eight languages, including Armenian, does not mention the word ‘genocide’, but instead speaks about the “great catastrophe.”

“My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to them,” the message reads.

Among those who put their signatures to the petition are not only citizens of Turkey, but also Turks living in different countries. As the Turkish daily Hurriyet writes, a recently elected cochairman of the German party of the “Green” Cem Ozdemir also recently signed the online petition. (Ozdemir’s name features on the website).

The action itself has caught media attention.

Corriere della Sera writes in its article headlined “Letter of 300 – Armenians, Forgive us”: “The silence of the moderate Islamic government of Recep Erdogan and President of the Turkish Republic Abdullah Gul can be viewed as confirmation of the interest towards the initiative aimed at a rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia.”

The Russian internet journal, Point.ru, headlines its story as follows: “Ice Melting Between Turks and Armenians: the ‘Janizaries’ Have Apologizes”.

“Official Ankara did not want under any pretext to admit the fact of a wholesale massacre of the population in Armenia that matched the definition of a later notion of ‘genocide’ and would not offer its apology to the Armenians. And nevertheless, the ice of such an admission has been torn asunder,” the Russian media outlet suggests.

The “Jewish Journal” also writes on the subject in its article “Turks Offer Apology to Armenian Brethren Online”. The BBC, Associated Press and a number of other mass media, including Azerbaijani and Armenian, also provide an extensive coverage and commentary to the event.

Meanwhile, Turkish media report a sharp criticism of the initiative by the nationalist circles of the country. A group of nearly 60 former ambassadors has reportedly issued a joint statement warning that the started campaign is “fraught with negative consequences for national interests.”

“Such an erroneous and unilateral initiative will mean nothing else than manifestation of disrespect towards our history,” the ex-diplomats say in their statement.