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Diocese: Update on church bombings in Iraq

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  • Diocese: Update on church bombings in Iraq

    PRESS OFFICE
    Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern)
    630 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10016
    Contact: Chris H. Zakian, Coordinator of Public Relations
    Tel: (212) 686-0710 Ext. 44; Fax: (212) 779-3558
    E-mail: [email protected]
    Website: www.armenianchurch.org

    August 2, 2004
    ___________________

    CAR BOMB EXPLODES OUTSIDE ARMENIAN SANCTUARY IN BAGHDAD

    AUGUST 2, 2004, NEW YORK CITY -- Many people have contacted the Eastern
    Diocesan Center in New York City to inquire about yesterday's attack by
    Islamic extremists on Christian churches in Iraq. To the many who have
    expressed their concern, the Eastern Diocese conveys its thanks. This
    message is intended to confirm and, to the extent possible, expand the
    information currently available.

    News reports have already detailed that an Armenian sanctuary in
    Baghdad's prosperous Karada district was the target of the first of
    several coordinated car-bomb attacks on churches in that city and in the
    city of Mosul, some 200 miles to the north.

    According to a communiqué from the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the
    targeted Armenian Church was an Armenian Catholic sanctuary. His
    Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All
    Armenians, was able to contact the chairman of the church via telephone,
    to express his sympathy and assess the situation. The chairman stressed
    that no Armenians were killed in the explosions.

    Holy Etchmiadzin's official statement (which appears below) affirms that
    the attacks did not extend to any of Baghdad's several Armenian
    Apostolic churches, nor to the local Diocesan headquarters.

    Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Diocese of the Armenian
    Church of America (Eastern), received the above information during a
    telephone conversation with Catholicos Karekin II. He expects shortly
    to be able to contact Archbishop Avak Asadourian, the primate of Iraq,
    who returned to the embattled country last week after a brief sojourn in
    the United States. (In early July, Archbishop Asadourian discussed the
    Iraqi Armenian community at the Diocesan Center in New York City;
    details can be found here:
    http://www.armenianchurch.org/news/index3.php?newsid=445&selmonth=7&sely
    ear04)

    The August 1 attacks are being seen as a new development in the tactics
    of the Islamic terrorists, who until now have not directly targeted
    Iraq's minority Christian communities. However, recent weeks have
    witnessed a campaign of violence and intimidation against alcohol
    sellers throughout Iraq, the majority of whom are Christians of the
    Assyrian, Chaldean, and Armenian denominations. (Muslims are prohibited
    by their religion from selling or imbibing alcohol.) Present estimates
    place the Christian population of Iraq at around 800,000, mostly
    concentrated in Baghdad. The Armenian community numbers itself at
    around 20,000, more than half of whom reside in and around Baghdad.

    The Eastern Diocese will continue to provide updated information to the
    public as it becomes available. In the meantime, our hearts and prayers
    go out to our countrymen in Iraq. And our thoughts are with all the
    people of Iraq, as they struggle to defend the seeds of democracy.

    --8/2/04

    * * *

    STATEMENT FROM THE MOTHER SEE OF HOLY ETCHMIADZIN
    ON THE CHURCH BOMBINGS IN IRAQ

    [August 2, 2004] The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin learned with sorrow
    from the Armenian Diocese of Iraq of the terrorist events of August 1,
    the result of which caused loss of life and many to be injured. Five
    churches were damaged, among them being an Armenian Catholic church.
    The Armenian Apostolic churches and Diocesan headquarters of Iraq were
    not attacked or damaged.

    The Armenian Apostolic Holy Church expresses her sympathies to the
    families of the victims and all Iraqi people, and wishes complete
    recovery to the wounded and injured. We pray that the centuries of
    friendship and peaceful co-existence among Christian and Muslim peoples
    in the East will not be endangered by similar condemnable violence; for
    peace to be re-established in the region; and that the Iraqi people
    continue with the creation of their safe and progressing lives.

    # # #
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