THE YOUTH CONDEMN TURKEY

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[03:10 pm] 27 June, 2006

A number of youth organizations condemn the inhospitable attitude
towards the All Armenian Catholicos Garegin II in Istanbul. Today the
representatives of the youth organization of the Republican Party and
"Nikol Aghbalyan" Students’ Union of the Dashnaktsutyun Party informed
about it.

In this connection about 30 political, social, youth and students’
organizations released a joint statement on June 26 and they are
going to hand it to all European Embassies.

According to Karen Avagyan, head of the youth organization of the
Republican Party the youth couldn’t keep silence. "We shall try to
prevent such cases in future. We want the Council of Europe to take
into consideration the fact that Turkey is not going to have any ties
with Armenia."

They noted that this is not the first assault in the Turkish history on
the Armenian and Christian clergymen. "Many months ago a Moslem from
Turkey, which is a candidate to the EU, killed a catholic clergyman
during the liturgy. It is due to mention that the encroachment upon
Johannes Poghos II was also initiated by the Turks," they claim.

In their statement the Armenian youth representatives demand the
international community, mainly the EU member-countries to refer to
this event and to condemn the assault on the Armenian Church Supreme
Patriarch.

In their opinion this assault is humiliating and it also violates
the rights and fundamental freedoms of the Christian residents(mainly
Armenian citizens) living in Turkey.

By the way, the participants of the press release are going to meet
with the All Armenian Catholicos after his return to Armenia, make
the details clear and later make certain steps among the youth.