PRESS OFFICE
Department of Communications
Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Contact: Jake Goshert, Coordinator of Information Services
Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 160; Fax: (212) 779-3558
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
January 23, 2007
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NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES USA CONDEMNS ASSASSINATION OF JOURNALIST HRANT
DINK – EXTEND CONDOLENCES TO BISHOP VICKEN
The National Council of Churches (NCC) is the latest in a score of
organizations issuing statements of condemnation concerning the
assassination of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul on Friday,
January 19, 2007.
"The NCC calls on the U.S. State Department to use whatever influence
possible to make sure this political assassination is fully investigated
with courage and clarity," said former six-term United States congressman
and current NCC general secretary, the Rev. Bob Edgar, said. "The Turkish
government must show it will defend the rights and the lives of religious
and ethnic minorities."
The NCC extended special messages of sorrow and solidarity with Bishop
Vicken Aykazian, legate and ecumenical officer of the Diocese of the
Armenian Church of America (Eastern). Bishop Vicken is the NCC
president-elect and will speak at a vigil Tuesday evening, January 23, 2007,
at the St. Mary Church in Washington, D.C.
"The Armenian people around the world are mourning his death," Bishop
Aykazian said. "He died because he had the courage to say there was a
genocide by the Ottoman Turks against the Armenians. But, God willing,
Hrant Dink’s death will serve as an organizing call for all people who love
the truth, democracy and human rights to re-double their efforts to
establish a society where goodness, free speech and respect for truth, which
is essential to justice, is established between the Armenian and Turkish
peoples."
Bishop Aykazian, a personal friend of Hrant Dink, traveled to Los Angeles
with the assassinated journalist on a recent joint trip.
"Hrant said he was not afraid for himself, but he was afraid for his
children," Bishop Aykazian said. "He was a man of immense courage, strong
conviction, deep morals, and unparalleled ethics. He was committed to
responsible journalism in service to the truth."
— 1/23/07
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