PanARMENIAN.Net

Patriarch Mutafyan’s speech cancelled over Armenian pressure?
22.09.2007 14:49 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A planned speech at a Washington university
yesterday by Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan, religious leader of Turkish
Armenians has been canceled.

Mesrob II, who arrived in the U.S. capital earlier in the week, was
scheduled to deliver a speech called "The Impasse between Turks and
Armenians Must Be Broken" at Georgetown’s University’s Woodstock
Theological Center. But an announcement on the center’s Web site said
Wednesday the speech was "postponed due to logistical conflict."

Turkish Daily News reports that `the event has been cancelled
following pressure on the university by U.S. Armenian groups over
Partiarch’s opposition to the Armenian Genocide Resolution.’

Asked by reporters if his speech was canceled because of U.S. Armenian
pressure, the patriarch said, "it may have been."

The Armenian National Committee of America recently sent a letter to
all 535 Congressional offices regarding the upcoming visit of
Patriarch Mutafyan of Constantinople.

As ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter, the letter stresses that: "the Patriarch – like the leaders
of all religious minorities in Turkey – lives in constant fear of acts
of discrimination and retribution by a Turkish government that
actively persecutes those who speak freely on human rights and other
`sensitive’ issues. As a virtual hostage, the Patriarch – whose life
has been threatened on many occasions – will, as has in the past, be
forced to follow the Turkish government’s line. It is truly shameful
that Turkey has resorted to using coercion – cynically taking
advantage of the concern of Patriach Mesrob for the safety of his
flock – in a last ditch bid to block the adoption of the Armenian
Genocide Resolution."