CONGRESSWOMAN WATSON WARNS NOT TO BE CHEATED BY "FORMAL EFFORTS" OF
RESTORATION OF AKHTAMAR

WASHINGTON, APRIL 2, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Diane Watson, a
leading member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of
Representatives of the United States warned her colleagues on March 29
not to be cheated by the formal efforts of the Turkish government
which, using the restoration of the Armenian church, masks its old
policy of annihilation of the Armenian historic heritage and denial of
the Armenian Genocide," the Armenian National Committee of America
states.

In her letter D. Watson wrote that "Armenia, which was the first state
to adopt the Christianity as a state religion in 301, has a too rich
history of old churches. It is a pity, but the Turkish government
which still, in spite of all evidences, refuses the Armenian Genocide,
continues active destruction of Armenian monuments. It is a hopeless
and evil campaign which started from 1915 and the goal of which is to
annihilate Armenians’ physical and cultural existence in their
historic Fatherland."

The Los Angeles legislator completed her letter, mentioning that "it
is only owing to international powerful pressure that the Turkish
government kept this Armenian church, a holy place which is already
widely known as a world wealth."