ANTELIAS, Lebanon-A statement published by the office of information of the Catholicosate of Cilicia informs the public that the Catholicosate will not send representatives to attend church services at the Holy Cross Armenian Church on Sept. 19.
The statement read, "In an attempt to convince the European Union and UNESCO that Turkey safeguards the cultural heritage of its occupied lands, the government restored the Holy Cross Armenian Church, but instead of keeping it as a church, transformed it into a museum."
The Catholicosate of Cilicia will not send representatives to attend church services at the Holy Cross Armenian Church on Sept. 19.
The Catholicosate condemned this act as "an attempt to obscure its consistent policy of denying the Armenian Genocide and the rights of its survivors."
In the statement, the Catholicosate "calls upon all nations that advocate human rights to demand accountability from Turkey. The Catholicosate demands that the world community oblige Turkey to acknowledge that both in Western Armenia and Cilicia, occupied by Turkey, more than two thousand Armenian churches and monasteries have either been destroyed or converted into mosques or stables."
The statement concludes by reaffirming the Catholicosate's commitment to justice, human rights, and genocide recognition, and by underscoring Turkey's "obligation to restore of the rights of its survivors."
