Ekklesia, UK
May 17 2008

Armenian spiritual leader decries genocide denial

By Ecumenical News International
17 May 2008

Catholicos Karekin II of the Armenian Apostolic Church, visiting Pope
Benedict XVI in Rome, has spoken of the "genocide" suffered by his
compatriots in the Ottoman empire, and said that those with power
should ensure that justice prevails – writes Luigi Sandri.

"We … appeal to all nations and lands to universally condemn all
genocides that have occurred throughout history and those that
continue through the present day," Karekin said in St Peter’s Square
on 7 May, where he had been invited by Pope Benedict to speak at the
pontiff’s general audience.

"The denial of these crimes is an injustice that equals the commission
of the same," noted Karekin, who holds the title of "Supreme Patriarch
and Catholicos of All Armenians".

Armenia says 1.5 million of its people died between 1915 and 1923 in a
systematic genocide initiated by the Young Turks’ government ruling
then in Istanbul. Turkey, however, rejects the term "Armenian
genocide" and says mass removals were intended to clear people from a
war zone. It acknowledges that people died, but holds that the number
was far less than that given by Armenia.

Karekin was accompanied by Armenian bishops from North and South
America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East for his 5-12 May visit to
Rome, which followed an earlier visit to the Vatican in 2000, when he
met Benedict’s predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

"Today many countries of the world condemn the genocide made by the
Ottomans against the Armenian people, as John Paul II said when I was
in Rome," noted Karekin, who received Pope John Paul in Armenia in
2001.

Two days after Karekin spoke at St Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict
received the Armenian delegation at the Vatican. At the meeting,
Benedict said, "The recent history of the Armenian Apostolic Church
has been written in the contrasting colours of persecution and
martyrdom, darkness and hope, humiliation and spiritual re-birth."

Still, noted the Agence France-Press in a report, Pope Benedict did
not employ the word "genocide" that had been used by his predecessor.

The Pope and the Catholicos underlined the achievements of the
Armenian-Catholic ecumenical dialogue during the past 12 years to seek
greater Christian unity.

Karekin II invited the pontiff to visit Armenia, and expressed the
hope that the international community would support the right to
self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated region
situated in neighbouring Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliev, suggested earlier during 2008
that his country could use force to regain control over
Nagorno-Karabakh. The area has been under ethnic Armenian control
since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year war.

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is
jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World
Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the
Conference of European Churches.]