PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Director
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
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"WE REJECT ALL ATTEMPTS TO DENY THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE"
SAID HIS HOLINESS ARAM I
Addressing Armenians on 24 April, His Holiness Aram I said: "This is the day
when we pay a special tribute to the Martyrs of the Genocide. The remains of
the martyrs are buried under the Memorial Chapel in Antelias. In October
2009, thousands of Armenians gathered around this monument. We are here
standing next to the remains of our one-and-a-half million martyrs to renew
our loyalty to their legacy and continue demanding justice from Turkey and
the International Community. Justice is the most important principle in
human rights. Justice is a God-given gift. Therefore, no one is entitled to
deny justice to another. Through his Son Jesus, God supported the meek and
the oppressed against the unjust".
After this brief evocation of the memory of the martyrs, Aram I continued:
"Today, high-ranking Turkish officials say that the events of 1915 were
‘happenings at a time of war, and not a genocide’. Turkey knows very well
that during World War I, 1915 the genocide of the Armenians was a
well-prepared Ottoman political strategy and not ‘a war-time happening’. The
genocide is a well-researched, documented and established fact and not a
question for historians to study. Currently, Turkey is trying to separate
Armenia from the Diaspora. There might be differences of opinion between
Armenia and the Diaspora, but they are united in demanding justice and the
recognition of the Genocide. Any dialogue without having the formal
recognition of Genocide at its center is not a dialogue and, therefore,
unacceptable".
Aram I then concluded: "Armenians are peace-loving people. They have long
coexisted and continue to coexist with their neighbours of other faiths and
cultures. However, as a people we cannot remain silent in front of such a
crime. Turkey has kept silent regarding this crime for 95 years. I invite
the younger generation of Turkey to read versions of their history not
sanctioned by their government and to study objectively the actions of their
political leaders in the early 20th Century. I invite them to come to
Antelias, to the Catholicosate that was uprooted from Cilicia and settled in
Lebanon, to discover us as people, our life-giving values, our aspirations
for peace and justice. I also invite representatives of all those nations
who still continue to deny the Genocide to visit our monuments, to meet our
people and share their pain".
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View the photos here:
tos/Photos474.htm
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The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.