GAREGIN II THANKS PATR KIRILL FOR MEDIATION TO KARABAKH SETTLEMENT
ITAR-TASS
Nov 28 2011
Russia
Head of the Armenian Apostolic Church Catholicos Garegin II thanked
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and the Russia Orthodox
Church for their mediation to settle the Karabakh conflict and restore
peace in the region.
“I want to express gratitude to you and the Russian Orthodox Church for
mediation efforts to settle the Karabakh conflict and restore peace,”
Garegin II said in a tripartite meeting with the Russian patriarch
and Sheikh Allashukyur Pasha-zade, chairman of the Spiritual Board
of Muslims on Monday.
The catholicos said he “hopes that the Karabakh problem will be
settled by joint efforts and that our peoples and states – Armenia and
Azerbaijan – will succeed in restoring good-neighbourly relationship.”
He stressed, “Our duty is to exert maximum effort to ensure peace and
stability in our region, and to strengthen cooperation and solidarity
between the peoples.”
“Due to the peacekeeping mission – the OSCE Minsk Group for
Nagorno-Karabakh [Russia, France and the United States] – Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev’s personal efforts, the Armenian and
Azerbaijani presidents continue their meetings in order to settle
the Karabakh conflict and ensure the peaceful coexistence between
our peoples,” he said.
Garegin II said, “There is no alternative to peace for the peoples
of Armenia and Azerbaijan living side by side and seeking to build
a prosperous and happy society.”
Garegin II said the Religious Leaders Forum in Yerevan “will have a
positive chord in the souls of our peoples and give good fruits”. The
forum “is designed to strengthen our cooperation for the benefit of
the lives of our peoples and for the sake of moral values, to reaffirm
spiritual progress and peace”, he said.
“God makes our meeting possible to help us find ways to counter the
imperatives of our peoples’ life by keeping them in peace and gracious
living,” the catholicos said.
In his view, “the CIS countries represent a multinational and
multi-cultural world with the centuries-long traditions.” “These
traditions consolidated in the Soviet times and should develop today
when our peoples restore their spiritual life in free and sovereign
countries and seek to live with the faith in God,” Garegin II said.
The head of the Armenian Apostolic Church stressed, “Cooperation
between the religious leaders is significant for countering the
existing imperatives and settling conflicts, spreading humanitarian
values, respecting the God-given right to the peoples’ free life and
unhindered confession of their faith.”
The catholicos said, “In my view, moral principles, goodwill, mutual
understanding and tolerance, the respect of other peoples and cultures
have a big significance for resolving the gnawing problems.” “Today
the world faces new challenges. Amidst globalisation, the economic,
scientific and cultural achievements we voice serious concern over
violence and war, the global economic and financial crisis, the social
and political disturbances in North Africa and the Middle East,”
Garegin II said.
Meanwhile, Garegin II, Patriarch Kirill and the chairman of the
Spiritual Board of Muslims signed a declaration on the peaceful
settlement of the Karabakh conflict. They urged the leaders of Armenia
and Azerbaijan to stop bloodshed.
“The three parties are committed to the peaceful resolution of the
problem. They say this decision should be taken on the basis of
international law,” the Russian patriarch said.
The religious leaders of the three parties hope that these measures
will facilitate the peaceful resolution of the conflict.
The CIS Inter-Religious Council is a public organisation, which
involves the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Buddhist Sangha,
the Georgian Orthodox Church, the spiritual boards of Muslims of
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, the Congress of
Jewish Religious Organisations, the Coordinating Centre of Muslims
of the North Caucasus, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Council of
Muftis of Russia, the Board of Muslims of the Caucasus, the Federation
of CIS Jewish Communities and the Central Spiritual Board of Muslims
of Russia.