PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: cathcil@cathcil.org
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

In a letter to the UN General Secretary

"THE PRESENCE OF TURKISH PEACEKEEPERS IN THE SOUTH OF LEBANON
IS MORALLY UNACCEPTABLE"
Said His Holiness ARAM I

Expressing the concern of the Armenian community of Lebanon in a letter
addressed to Mr. Kofi Annan, the General Secretary of the United Nations,
His Holiness Aram I strongly questiond the presence of Turkish forces as
part of the UN peacekeepers in south of Lebanon. He said "How can a state
play a peacekeeping role when the culture of massacre and the ruthless
killing of innocent women and children are part of its political culture?
How can a nation that denies its illegitimate occupation of one part of
Cyprus come to defend the land and the people of Lebanon?". His Holiness
considers the Turkish participation in a peacekeeping mission "morally
unacceptable".

His Holiness has reminded the General Secretary that the Armenian community,
which was settled in Lebanon after the Armenian Genocide in 1915, will never
accept "the eligibility of the army of a country that has a profoundly
negative record on implementing justice and human rights".

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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress