PRESS RELEASE
Diocese of the Armenian Church of Australia & New Zealand
10 Macquarie Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
AUSTRALIA
Contact: Laura Artinian
Tel: (02) 9419-8056
Fax: (02) 9904-8446
Email: [email protected]
6 August 2005
ARMENIAN-AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY OUTRAGED AT FALSE REPORT
Sydney, Australia – The Armenian-Australian Community was outraged
this week demanding an apology and full retraction of a falsely
reported column headlined “Pope Shot by Armenian Gunman” posted in
The Canberra Times on 4 August 2005. The correspondent erroneously
reported the would-be assassin of His Holiness Pope John Paul II of
blessed memory, in May 1981, was of Armenian origin. Mehmet Ali Agca
was in fact a Turkish militant with absolutely no Armenian connection.
The outpouring of rage and resentment by the local and international
Armenian Community at such sloppy journalism is totally justifiable
particularly when The Canberra Times claims to be “Canberra’s primary
source of news, views and advertising information” and bears as its
motto ‘To serve the national city and through it the nation’.
Letters denouncing the Armenian link to the Turkish assassin,
the falsity of the report and the slur on the Armenian name were
affirmed to the Editor calling for an unequivocal apology. All
Armenian organisations and individuals are urged to make their own
protest against this profound mistruth, in a voice of unity that is
blasphemous for Armenians.
In his letter to The Canberra Times, Primate of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of Australia and New Zealand, His Eminence Archbishop
Aghan Baliozian wrote ~ “I trust this egregious and damaging error will
elicit an immediate and sincere apology to the Armenian-Australian
Community. In turn, as true followers of Christ’s teachings, and as
the example set by His Holiness in forgiving Agca for the error of
his ways, the Armenian-Australian Community will forgive The Canberra
Times for the gross error it has made.”
A response from The Canberra Times is pending.