VISITING PONTIFF FINDS SUPPORT IN FIGHT TO RECOGNIZE GENOCIDE
By Niraj Warikoo – Free Press Staff Writer

Detroit Free Press, MI
Nov 1 2007

The Armenian community’s top religious leader said today in Southfield
that the U.S. Congress will eventually label as genocide the mass
killings of Armenians in the early 20th century.

"We don’t know when it will happen, but we have no doubt that one
day — today, tomorrow, at some point — this will be accepted by
the U.S. Congress," His Holiness Karekin II, pontiff of the Armenian
Orthodox Church, said through a translator after a luncheon in his
honor at St. John Armenian Church in Southfield. "Which country,
if not the country that bears the legacy of democratic values,"
will condemn the genocide.

"Moral values should never be held hostage to political interests,"
he added.

Karekin is in Detroit this week as part of a national tour of the
U.S. He happened to deliver a prayer in Congress last month on the same
day that a House committee voted to recognize the Armenian genocide,
setting off strong protests from the Turkish government and the Bush
administration. The resolution appears to be stalled for now.

During the luncheon, Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida, of the Roman
Catholic Church, along with local heads of the Greek and Romanian
Orthodox churches, also condemned the genocide.

Karekin said recognizing the Armenian genocide is important not just
for Armenians, but for all who suffer because of their background
or religion.

"The world suffers today with the trampling of human rights," Karekin
said. "It is vital that genocide be condemned."

Karekin also said that the Armenian community in the U.S. is strong
despite increasing assimilation.

He said that Armenians who marry outside their ethnicity often have
spouses who are very active in the Armenian church and "play a great
role in the Armenian community." The non-Armenians are sometimes
"even better Armenians than their Armenian spouses," Karekin said.