COE (Communiqués de presse), Switzerland
Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (Comunicados de prensa), Switzerland
April 15 2005

Churches worldwide to commemorate the Armenian genocide on 24 April

The member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) have been
invited to make Sunday 24 April a day of memory of the Armenian
genocide on its 90th anniversary.

This way of commemorating the tragic massacre of one-and-a-half
million Armenians in Turkey and the deportation of another million
from their homeland was recommended last February by the Council’s
central committee.

In its recommendation to commemorate what was the first genocide of
the 20th century, the governing body stressed “the need for public
recognition of the Armenian genocide and the necessity of Turkey to
deal with this dark part of its history”.

“I am personally in communion with you in prayers and in solidarity
with the cause of your people,” wrote the WCC general secretary Rev.
Dr Samuel Kobia in an 11 April letter addressed to the Catholicos of
All Armenians, Supreme Patriarch Karekin II.

Kobia also expressed his hope that the “intercessory prayers that the
fellowship of churches will offer on Sunday, 24 April, will remind
the world of the words of the gospel: Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God”.

In another letter sent to the Council’s member churches on 14 April,
the director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International
Affairs (CCIA) Mr Peter Weiderud voiced his hope that “services held
all over the world on 24 April would encourage churches and
Christians to reflect on truth, justice, repentance, forgiveness,
reconciliation and healing of society”.

The full text of the WCC central committee recommendation is
available at: