Archbishop Who Condemned Resolution on So-called Armenian Genocide Not Allowed to Armenia

Yerevan / 22.06.16 / Turan-ArmInfo: The Patriarch of Constantinople Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Aram Ateshyan will not arrive in Armenia. This was reported by the press office of Echmiadzin.

On June 15 Ateshyan went to Russia, and then planned to arrive in Armenia to participate in the meetings of the Supreme Spiritual Council, as well as in the activities on the occasion of the visit of Pope Francis to Armenia. However, this news caused a backlash and protests in the Armenian society and political circles. Armenian parliamentarians began collecting signatures to ban Ateshyan’s entry to the republic, and a group of activists intended to meet the Archbishop in the airport with rotten eggs and tomatoes.

The reason for negative attitudes towards Ateshyan was his letter to the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he considered unlawful the decision by the German Bundestag on the Armenian Genocide and said the Armenians do not share this position and apologized for the decision of the German parliament.    -02D-