WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE VISITS ARMENIA, REAFFIRMS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
19-06-2015 17:42:25 | Armenia | Press release
WASHINGTON, DC - Last week, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee led a 20-member delegation to Armenia. The WCC delegation traveled first to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin as part of the group's annual ecumenical pilgrimage. In Etchmiadzin, the delegation held business meetings with WCC President His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, where a statement on the centenary of the Armenian Genocide was adopted.
WCC Executive Committee in Etchmiadzin, Armenia. Photo Courtesy Marianne Edjersten/WCC.
The statement reads in part: "The Armenian genocide was accompanied in the same historical and political context by genocidal acts against other - mostly Christian - communities of Aramean, Chaldean, Syrian, Assyrian and Greek descent, which have blighted history at the beginning of the 20th century.
"Denial, impunity and the failure to remember such events encourage their repetition. Those who deny or attack the life and dignity of a sister or brother undermine and destroy the humanity of both the victim and themselves. These centennial commemorations should mark the passing of the time when governments remain reluctant to name what occurred one hundred years ago as genocide. We urge all governments to abandon this reluctance.
"In this centenary year, we call the international community, the WCC's member churches and all people of faith and good will to remembrance, and to re-commit to the prevention of genocide and all crimes against humanity."
From Etchmiadzin, the delegation travelled to Yerevan where they paid their respects at the Tsitzernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial. At the memorial, the delegation gathered in prayer and laid wreaths in honor of the 1.5 million Armenians killed in the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
WCC Delegation Praying at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial.
"The World Council of Churches continues to be ahead of its time as it has repeatedly called on the international community to recognize the Armenian Genocide since 1983," stated Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, Diocesan Legate of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America (Eastern). "The Armenian people greatly appreciate the work of Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit and the entire WCC executive committee and we thank them for traveling to Armenia and appropriately commemorating the Armenian Genocide on this the centennial year," Aykazian said.
Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.
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