PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version: nian.htm
"THE GENOCIDE COMMITTED AGAINST ARMENIANS IS A GENOCIDE AGAINST HUMANITY"
SAYS HIS HOLINESS ARAM I
Two newly published works on the Armenian Genocide were presented to the
public on Monday in the Catholicosate of Cilicia’s "Gulbenkian" hall in
Antelias. Members of the Cilician Brotherhood, the President of Haygazian
University Reverend Dr. Paul Haydostian, the director of the Lisbon-based
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Armenian Department Dr. Zaven Yegavian,
intellectuals as well as Armenian and foreign book-lovers attended the
event, over which Catholicos Aram I presided.
Lebanese Armenian intellectual and Seminary lecturer Sarkis Giragossian
delivered the opening remarks highlighting the importance of such an event
on the eve of Genocide commemoration day on April 24. On the first of the
two new volumes, Giragossian said it was like a reference of the writings of
those Armenian who witnessed the Genocide first hand. The book is a
collection of letters, written in the immediate years following the horrors
of the Genocide and communicated between relatives taken away from each
other, both in search of lost family members and to recount the tragedies
that befell upon them. The book is a republication of "Tsayn Darabelots"
("The voice of the Tortured") published originally in 1922 in London.
The second book is written by Lebanese intellectual Dr. Saleh Zahreddine in
Arabic and entitled "The Armenian Church and its role during the 1915
Armenian Genocide". Mentioning all the Arab and particularly Lebanese
intellectuals who had raised their voice in support of Armenians through
their writings, Giragossian upheld the value of Dr. Zahreddine’s work and
the message of Arab friendship that flows from it.
During his speech Dr. Zahreddine expressed his gratitude to Catholicos Aram
I for his support and to all those who helped him in publishing the book.
Stressing the friendship ties between Armenians and Arabs, he praised the
role of the Armenian community of Lebanon in strengthening the sovereignty
of Lebanon.
In his concluding remarks, the Pontiff talked about the message the two
volumes convey. Placing the issue of the recognition of the Armenian
Genocide in a new context, the Catholicos said: "The Genocide committed
against the Armenian nation is a Genocide against humanity. The voice of
torture, wherever it is, is not only the voice of pain, but also the voice
of resentment for the sake of justice. The Armenian nation demands justice
today, demands its rights everywhere. This morning we paid our respects to
our martyrs in Dzidzernagapert in Armenia, at the same time renewing our
holy pledge towards their legacy."
Concerning the content of the two books, His Holiness said, in reference to
the first volume, that it is not possible to read it without highly charged
emotionalism, especially "when memories were still so fresh and in their
writings to their relatives survivors described in terrorizing words the
events that occurred during the Genocide period."
Praising Dr. Zahreddine, the Catholicos said his book "is also proof of the
important role the Armenian Church played in the life of the Armenian
nation, particularly in its role to guide people from death to life again,
to rebirth and reorganization."
"Every time we remember the Genocide, we always say and will continue to say
that in Turkey Armenians experienced death and in the Arab world, they
opened up to life again. In Turkey, they were pursued as enemies, in the
Arab world they were welcomed as brothers and sisters," he added.
The Catholicos also praised Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Zaven and Ingrid Yegavian who,
upon his request, had agreed to fund the publication of "Tsayn Darabelots",
dedicating it to the memory of all the victims of the Yegavian and
Tchamkerten families. The second book has been published by the "Richard and
Tina Carolan" Fund.
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View the photos here:
tos/Photos254.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 books
published in the Printing House 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.