Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 8 2008
Karekin urges world to recognize genocide claims
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.
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. 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 US House of
Representatives stopped short of voting on a resolution that would
have called the killings genocide after Turkey threatened grave
consequences to relations.