Three Turkish scholars and a journalist have issued a personal public apology for their country’s role in the killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, which modern Turkish governments have refused to characterize as genocide, The Guardian, a British newspaper, reported today.

Academics and journalists who have flouted Turkey’s official government line on the “Armenian question” have faced prosecution under a controversial provision of the country’s penal law that criminalizes “denigrating Turkishness.”

According to The Guardian, the apology came in an open letter that includes the following statement: “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. I apologize to them.”

The Armenian News Agency reported that the statement would be opened for signatures online.