Relatives - cousins, descendents. I am descended from humans. We and they looked like humans, thought like humans, and lived like humans. Apes do not look like us, think like us, or live like us. Apes are apes. Humans are humans.
Telling me "apes are apes" is not telling me what an ape is.
Apes are members of the superfamily Hominoidea, which includes the family Hominidae (Hominids). Humans are hominids - therefore by definition, humans are apes, whether you like it or not.