ANKARA 

Turkey’s EU Minister Volkan Bozkir will participate in the commemoration liturgy organized by the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1915 events Friday, it was announced.

The Turkish EU ministry said in a statement Thursday that this would be the first time that the Turkish government would be represented at an official level in the commemoration liturgy.

Also, Bozkir will be the first Turkish minister ever to participate in such a ceremony held to honor those who died during the 1915 events.

The liturgy will be held Friday at the Kumkapi Mother Mary Church in Istanbul.

Turkey has called for the establishment of a joint commission of historians and the opening of archives to study and uncover what happened between the Ottoman Empire and its Armenian citizens.

The 1915 events took place during World War I when a portion of the Armenian population living in the Ottoman Empire sided with the invading Russians and revolted.

The relocation by the Ottomans of Armenians in eastern Anatolia following the revolts resulted in numerous casualties. Turkey does not dispute that there were casualties on both sides, but rejects the definition of "genocide."