THOUSANDS OF ARMENIANS ATTENDED GENOCIDE COMMEMORATION CEREMONY IN ROME

A Mass in Rome celebrated by the rector of the Pontifical Armenian College was among many events marking the 93rd anniversary the Armenian Genocide. Monsignor Hovsep Kelekian celebrated the Mass in the Armenian church of St. Nicholas of Tolentine. He lamented the lack of an official international recognition of the "'metz yeghern (great calamity) of the genocide" and expressed his hope that "the genocide of the Armenian people be recognized by the whole world" because "it is a fact." "We have gathered today to honor our martyrs and give thanks to our relatives who gave us this life we live today," Monsignor Kelekian said. "We hope that we can faithfully transmit to our descendants what we have inherited - our faith and our Armenian culture." After the Mass, prayers were said before the Khachkar memorial erected in 2006 in memory of the victims. The memorial Mass for the some 1.5 million victims was one of the events of the awareness campaign led by the council of the Armenian community of Rome. L’Osservatore Romano today noted a petition from recently elected Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan that the international community recognize the massacre. He said Thursday that such recognition is a priority of his presidency. Armenia’s goal is not revenge, Sargsyan added. "We are willing to establish normal relations with Turkey even tomorrow, without preconditions, but the denial of the genocide has no future, above all now that many countries around the world have united their voices to the chorus of the truth." L’Osservatore Romano noted that 22 countries recognize the massacre as genocide. Turkey denies that the killings were a systematic "genocide" and considers it a crime to use that term to refer to the event, Zenit.org reports.

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