ARMENIAN CATHOLIC BISHOP FROM EGYPT CALLS ON TURKEY TO RECOGNIZE GENOCIDE

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
14.10.2009 10:48 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An Armenian Catholic bishop from Egypt,
Krikor-Okosdinos Coussa of Alexandria, has called on Turkey to
recognize the Armenian Genocide.

"In 1915, the Ottomans … killed the Armenian people in Greater
Armenia and Lesser Armenia (Turkey). One and a half million people
perished during this genocide," Coussa told a synod of African bishops
taking place in Rome.

The killings drove the Armenians from Turkey to the Middle East and
throughout the world, he noted.

"The leaders of the Armenian State and the heads of the Armenian
Churches (Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical) are performing an act
of public pardon towards the Turks.

"We do so while appealing to the Turks to recognize the genocide,
to pay homage to the martyrs and to grant Armenians their civil,
political and religious rights," Coussa said.

In an apparent reference to an agreement signed last weekend between
Turkey and Armenia normalizing ties, Coussa stated: "The path of
reconciliation between the two States has begun."

Armenians protest the accord, saying the normal relations can only be
founded on truth and justice. The document signed on Saturday calls
for a historical commission to investigate the Armenian Genocide –
a fact already acknowledged my historians and genocide scholars,
Vatican City press-service reported.