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Armenians lead charge against Sudanese Genocide

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  • Armenians lead charge against Sudanese Genocide

    PRESS OFFICE
    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. 60; Fax: (212) 779-3558
    E-mail: [email protected]
    Website: www.armenianchurch.org

    August 2, 2004
    ___________________

    CHURCH LEADERS PUSH FOR ACTION ON CATASTROPHE IN SUDAN

    By Jake Goshert

    The Armenian Church is taking a leading role in pushing for action to
    end the genocide which is beginning in the Sudan.

    Bishop Vicken Aykazian, legate and ecumenical officer of the Diocese of
    the Armenian Church of America (Eastern), led a protest outside the
    Sudanese Embassy in Washington D.C. on Friday, July 23, 2004. He was
    joined by religious leaders and supporters from the Armenian Assembly of
    America.

    "My message was that genocide is not acceptable, especially in the
    beginning of the 21st century," said Bishop Aykazian, who led a prayer
    during the protest and also spoke for the group to various media
    outlets. "I told them I know what genocide means, because my people
    have suffered through genocide. So we ask the authorities and the
    people to come together to fight against the genocide."

    Bishop Aykazian, who serves as secretary to the executive committee of
    the National Council of Churches (NCC), has talked about the issue with
    leaders of that ecumenical body and is one of the organization's leaders
    calling for international action to end the violence in the Sudan, where
    the Janjaweed -- a government-backed nomadic Arab tribe -- has raped,
    killed, and burnt the homes of black, non-Arab residents in the nation's
    Darfur region in attempt to get them to leave their lands, which the
    Arab government has promised to the mercenaries.

    Those able to flee the Sudan have been pouring into neighboring Chad,
    where food, water, and shelter are growing scarce. American officials
    have unsuccessfully called on Sudan to allow humanitarian aid to flow
    into the Darfur area. The Bush administration has already pledged $300
    million in aid.

    With American pressure, the United Nations Security Council passed a
    resolution at the end of July calling for sanctions against Sudan unless
    the violence ends. (Sudan was recently elected to a three-year term on
    the U.N. Human Rights Commission.)

    The violence has already claimed an estimated 50,000 lives and displaced
    a million people. During the protest at the Sudanese Embassy, the group
    called not only for an end to the violence, but also for humanitarian
    aid and financial support for the displaced non-Arab victims.

    USING THE RIGHT WORDS

    Right now the activists are struggling on two fronts: to gather
    humanitarian assistance and to get the violence to be called genocide.

    "According to the experts, it is genocide. It really bothers me when
    the authorities and the government do not use the word genocide, because
    it is genocide. We have to use the word genocide," Bishop Aykazian
    said. "We have no right to use the word 'massacres', because other
    nations used that word when talking about the Armenian Genocide, and
    that bothers us. So we have to use the word 'genocide'."

    "Genocide goes beyond violence," Bishop Aykazian added. "It is not only
    killing human beings; it is killing the culture of a nation, of a
    minority, of a race. Genocide is the destruction of a group of people
    and the destruction of their history."

    CONTINUED CALLS FOR ACTION

    The NCC's executive board passed a resolution on Tuesday, May 18, 2004,
    urging member churches to push for cessation of the apparent attempt at
    ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

    The first NCC resolution dealing with the Sudan was approved in 2002.
    This recent resolution "affirms and extends" the calls to action made in
    the earlier statement of the NCC Executive Board -- an 80-member body
    representing leaders from the NCC's 36 Protestant, Orthodox, and
    Anglican member churches.

    The organization is also raising funds to send supplies of food and
    clothing to the refugees streaming out of Sudan and into neighboring
    Chad.

    The Eastern Diocese will be raising funds through its local parishes to
    provide aid to the victims in the Sudan through the National Council of
    Churches.

    "Today it is happening in the Sudan, and tomorrow it can happen in any
    part of the world. When you need help, you ask other people to help
    you. So make sure when others ask for help you don't just keep quiet
    because you don't want to put your hands into your pockets," he said.
    "As Armenians especially, we have no right to just keep quiet."

    -- 8/2/04

    E-mail photos available on request. Photos also viewable in the News
    and Events section of the Eastern Diocese's website,
    www.armenianchurch.org.

    PHOTO CAPTION (1): Bishop Vicken Aykazian, diocesan legate and
    ecumenical officer, leads a protest outside the Sudanese Embassy in
    Washington, D.C., on Friday, July 23, 2004.

    PHOTO CAPTION (2): Dozens of people join Bishop Aykazian in a protest
    calling for an end to the genocide in the Sudan.
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