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Ecumenical News International / 22 September 2005
Armenians mull sainthood for victims of Ottoman-era massacres
By Clive Leviev-Sawyer
Sofia, Bulgaria, 22 September (ENI)--A committee of the Armenian
Apostolic Church is studying the question of sainthood for
victims of what Armenia says was a genocide carried out between
1915 and 1917 by the Ottoman Empire, which became Turkey after
the First World War.
Armenia says about one and a half million people died as a result
of a systematic genocide as the Ottoman Empire undertook forced
removals of Armenians.
Turkey, however, rejects the term "Armenian genocide" and says
mass removals were intended to clear people from a war zone. It
acknowledges that people died, but holds that the number was far
less than that given by Armenia, and that there was no deliberate
intention to kill.
The Armenian Apostolic Church, to which about 90 per cent of
Armenians are said to belong, said the first meeting of the
committee studying sainthood took place from 3 to 6 September.
Proceedings were blessed by church leader Catholicos Karekin II.
The six-member committee is made up of senior leaders from the
two branches of the church, the Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin,
based in Armenia, and the Catholicosate of Cilicia, based in
Lebanon.
In 2004, the Evangelical Church in Germany, which groups most of
the country's Protestants, said the issue of how Turkey dealt
with its past was an important pre-condition for whether it could
enter the European Union.
"Only an honest examination of the past makes future development
possible, borne by the spirit of reconciliation and the striving
for justice and freedom," the German church said, noting in
particular "the problem of dealing with the genocide on
Armenians".
Meanwhile, Karekin II issued a statement to mark 21 September,
the day that commemorates Armenia's 1991 declaration of
independence from the Soviet Union. He said that Armenians had
not yielded to the difficulties of recent years including war and
the 1988 earthquake in which tens of thousands of people died.
"We have passed through a difficult yet ascending pathway on the
journey to create our new life and new statehood, a course which
will become broader and brighter through the united efforts,
faith, devotion and love of our people," Karekin said.
Armenia became the world's first nation officially to adopt
Christianity as a state religion in AD 301.
Armenians mull sainthood for victims of Ottoman-era massacres
By Clive Leviev-Sawyer
Sofia, Bulgaria, 22 September (ENI)--A committee of the Armenian
Apostolic Church is studying the question of sainthood for
victims of what Armenia says was a genocide carried out between
1915 and 1917 by the Ottoman Empire, which became Turkey after
the First World War.
Armenia says about one and a half million people died as a result
of a systematic genocide as the Ottoman Empire undertook forced
removals of Armenians.
Turkey, however, rejects the term "Armenian genocide" and says
mass removals were intended to clear people from a war zone. It
acknowledges that people died, but holds that the number was far
less than that given by Armenia, and that there was no deliberate
intention to kill.
The Armenian Apostolic Church, to which about 90 per cent of
Armenians are said to belong, said the first meeting of the
committee studying sainthood took place from 3 to 6 September.
Proceedings were blessed by church leader Catholicos Karekin II.
The six-member committee is made up of senior leaders from the
two branches of the church, the Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin,
based in Armenia, and the Catholicosate of Cilicia, based in
Lebanon.
In 2004, the Evangelical Church in Germany, which groups most of
the country's Protestants, said the issue of how Turkey dealt
with its past was an important pre-condition for whether it could
enter the European Union.
"Only an honest examination of the past makes future development
possible, borne by the spirit of reconciliation and the striving
for justice and freedom," the German church said, noting in
particular "the problem of dealing with the genocide on
Armenians".
Meanwhile, Karekin II issued a statement to mark 21 September,
the day that commemorates Armenia's 1991 declaration of
independence from the Soviet Union. He said that Armenians had
not yielded to the difficulties of recent years including war and
the 1988 earthquake in which tens of thousands of people died.
"We have passed through a difficult yet ascending pathway on the
journey to create our new life and new statehood, a course which
will become broader and brighter through the united efforts,
faith, devotion and love of our people," Karekin said.
Armenia became the world's first nation officially to adopt
Christianity as a state religion in AD 301.