PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: armenian@idx.com.au

26 April 2005

LEST WE FORGET
        
Sydney, Australia – As Armenian communities around the world observed solemn
commemorations on this 90th anniversary year of the Armenian Genocide,
Armenian-Australians have united also to mark not only the memorial of its
Armenian martyrs but also the ANZAC.

The Primate of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand, His Eminence
Archbishop Aghan Baliozian presided over and attended a number of
commemorative events over the course of the weekend.

On Saturday, 23 April, the Primate accompanied by parish priests and deacons
held a prayer service at the Cenotaph (war memorial) at Martin Place, Sydney
during a wreath-laying ceremony for the undying memories of the victims of
the Armenian Genocide and the ANZAC soldiers who fought in WWI. A large
contingent of faithful Armenian community members flocked the memorial to
pay their personal respects.

On Sunday, 24 April, a Divine Liturgy and Requiem Service was offered by
Reverend Father Norayr Patanian at the Altar of the Armenian Genocide
Monument at Macquarie Park Cemetery in the northern suburbs. On the same
morning, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by Reverend Father Bartev
Karakashian at St Benedict’s Catholic Church for the Armenian congregation
of western suburbs. The Primate delivered the day’s sermon at the northern
suburbs’ service and soon after attended a dedication ceremony to install a
commemorative plaque in Memorial Park, Meadowbank in the city of Ryde
following the Council’s unanimous passing of a motion officially recognising
the Armenian Genocide on 12 April, 2005 – the first local government of
Australia to do so. Archbishop Aghan Baliozian was invited by Ryde City
Council to open the dedication ceremony with his prayer and blessing.

Mid-afternoon the Primate accompanied by parish priests and deacons attended
a Requiem Service at the Armenian Genocide Memorial at Rookwood Cemetery
where the faithful of the area gathered to partake in the solemn service
offering prayers for the repose of the souls of the Armenian martyrs.

In the evening, the 90th Anniversary Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide
under the primateship of His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian was held at
Willoughby Town Hall, Sydney. Guest speaker for the evening was Mrs Hilda
Tchoboian, Chairperson of the Armenian European Federation. The
commemoration evening gathered a capacity crowd of over 800. The Primate
delivered the closing address recalling on an account given by Ambassador
Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador at Constantinople from 1913 to 1916,
likening the resilient Armenian spirit to the following episode with Talaat
Pasha. At a dinner party when the Ambassador appealed to Talaat on the
mistreatment of the Armenians, Talaat angrily grabbed a bunch of grapes from
the table, squeezed the grapes to a pulp extracting every ounce of juice,
throwing it to the ground and asserted this was how he was going to quash
the Armenians. To which the American Ambassador replied yes, he had indeed
succeeded in extracting the juice from the grapes and pulverising the fruit
but was unable to crush its seeds.

Early Monday dawn on 25 April, the Primate accompanied by Diocesan Council
Chairman, Mr Armen Baghdasarayan, attended the Chatswood-Willoughby ANZAC
Dawn Service, a service of remembrance and homage. ANZAC Day is a national
day of remembrance and marks the anniversary of the first major military
action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World
War. When forces landed at Gallipoli in Turkey on 25 April, 1915 they met
fierce resistance from Turkish defenders and over 8,000 Australian soldiers
were killed with a multitude of heavy casualties. 25 April has become the
day on which Australians remember the sacrifice of those who died in war.

Early morning on 25 April, His Eminence Archbishop Aghan Baliozian travelled
to Auckland, New Zealand and met with the small Armenian community to
commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide that same evening.
The Archbishop celebrated the Divine Liturgy and Requiem Service at St
Peter’s Anglican Church, Takapuna that was followed by a commemoration
evening where the Primate gave the keynote address.