Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday lashed out at the European Union and world leaders who have recognized the 1915 massacres of Armenians as genocide on the centenary of the events. 

Erdogan accused the leaders of France, Germany and Russia of "supporting claims based on Armenian lies" after they described the slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide -- which Turkey strongly objects to. 

A former Turkish prosecutor on Saturday claimed that he was facing a life sentence on terror charges for retweeting a leaked tape that implicated President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son in corruption.

His case is the latest in a string of recent incidents in European Union hopeful Turkey, where high-profile figures have found themselves facing criminal lawsuits or jail time after criticising Erdogan and other Turkish officials on Twitter.

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Hollywood on Friday to mark the centenary of the massacre of some 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces.

"We demand justice," read placards carried amid a sea of red, blue and orange Armenian flags along Sunset Boulevard, as demonstrators marched towards the Turkish consulate.

Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, and his son Prince Harry paid their respects Friday to the tens of thousands of British troops who died at the Battle of Gallipoli, laying wreaths and recalling the suffering of the soldiers.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and several Turkish ministers joined the centenary ceremony on Cape Helles on the westernmost tip of the Gallipoli peninsula, where British forces launched amphibious attacks in World War 1 starting in April 1915 but failed to break fierce Ottoman resistance.

Turkey on Friday condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for referring to genocide during commemorations of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians during World War I.

The foreign ministry said "we reject and condemn... (Putin's) characterization of 1915 events as genocide despite all our warnings and calls."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he would not call the mass murder of Armenians that began 100 years ago Friday a "genocide", one day after the German president used the controversial label.

Steinmeier said that adopting the term "genocide" to describe the slaughter of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces in 1915 could play into the hands of those who sought to minimize the Holocaust.

Turkey hosted leaders from World War I's former Allied powers Friday to honor the tens of thousands killed at the Battle of Gallipoli 100 years ago in one of the most futile yet emblematic campaigns of the conflict.

The ceremonies were being held the same day as centenary commemorations for the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and several world leaders had opted to attend the events in Yerevan instead.

A Turkish government minister for the first time attended a mass Friday to mark the 1915 massacres of Armenians in Istanbul as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his "condolences" to the victims' descendants.

"We respect the suffering of our Armenian brothers, that is why we have come to take part in this ceremony," European affairs minister Volkan Bozkir told the press, as a message in Armenian and English from Erdogan was read to the congregation at a solemn ceremony marking the centenary at the Armenian Patriarchate in the city.

An Algerian jihadist sympathizer arrested in connection with a thwarted attack on a church in France was charged with terror-related murder Friday after five days of police questioning.

Sid Ahmed Ghlam, 24, was taken into custody Sunday after he accidentally shot himself in the leg, a fluke occurrence that led to police uncovering an alleged plot to attack at least one church in the town of Villejuif, just south of Paris.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday described the World War I massacre of Armenians as "terrible carnage", but avoided the term genocide, as tempers flared ahead of the 100th anniversary of the bloodshed.

Friday marks a century since the start of the massacres waged by Ottoman forces, which Armenia says killed 1.5 million people between 1915 and 1917.