Associated Press
April 7 2008

Armenian Orthodox leader urges world to recognize WWI-era killings as genocide

By ARIEL DAVID,AP
Posted: 2008-05-07 09:29:57

VATICAN CITY (AP) – The head of Armenia’s Orthodox Church took part in
Pope Benedict XVI’s public audience on Wednesday and urged all
countries to recognize that Turks committed genocide against Armenians
early last century.

Karekin II sat at Benedict’s side during the traditional weekly
audience in St. Peter’s Square – part of a visit to the Vatican that
is the latest high-level contact between Catholic and Orthodox
leaders.

Addressing a crowd of faithful assembled in the square, Karekin
appealed "to all nations and lands to universally condemn all
genocides that have occurred throughout history."

"Denial of these crimes is an injustice that equals the commission of
the same," he said. "Many countries of the world recognize and condemn
the genocide committed against the Armenian people by Ottoman Turkey."

Benedict’s predecessor, Pope John Paul II, visited Armenia in 2001 and
paid his respects to the Armenians killed in the last days of the
Ottoman Empire.

During Wednesday’s audience, Benedict recalled "the severe
persecutions suffered by Armenian Christians, especially during the
last century."

Armenia says an estimated 1.5 million of its people were victims of
genocide in a 1915-23 campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey.

Ankara denies that Turks committed genocide, saying Armenians were
killed in internal fighting among ethnic groups as the empire
collapsed.

Many countries have been careful in treating the issue, because any
recognition of the killings as genocide is likely to rattle a nation’s
ties with Turkey. Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives stopped
short of voting on a resolution that would have called the killings
genocide after Turkey threatened grave consequences to relations.

Benedict is due to meet again with Karekin in a private audience on
Friday. Karekin, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, met with
the Vatican No. 2 official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, when the
prelate traveled to Armenia in March.

On Wednesday the pope reiterated his desire for closer relations with
Orthodox Christians, saying that "we are certain that the Lord never
abandons us in the search for unity."

In his own speech, Karekin said that "in spite of different historical
experiences and paths we have traversed … we are all children of the
one God."