The Armenian Genocide became the centre of attention of the international community, specifically of the Catholic world, in September 2001, during the visit of Pope John Paul II to Armenia. On the morning of September 26, when the Pope and Garegin II, Catholicos and Supreme Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church, paid a visit to the Tzitzernakaberd Genocide Memorial to pay their respects to the victims of the 1915 genocide, the famous chansonnier Charles Aznavour was there to greet them. When the Pope and the Catholicos approached the eternal flame, Aznavour suddenly started to sing Ave Maria. Those present were deeply moved by the experience.
The crowds gathered at the memorial could be heard uttering pangs of anguish as the 81-year-old Pope, afflicted with Parkinson’s disease, slowly made his way down the stairs and placed a single red rose at the eternal flame and prayed to God that the victims of the genocide be granted eternal rest. Catholicos Garegin II then took the Pope by the hand and the two ascended onto the outer plaza where they performed a requiem for the repose of souls.
“O Holy Father, O judge of the living and the dead, have mercy on us. Listen, O Lord, to the lament that rises from this place, to the call of the dead from the depths of the Metz Yeghern, the cry of innocent blood that pleads like the blood of Abel, like Rachel weeping for her children because they are no more. Listen, Lord, to the voice of the Bishop of Rome, echoing the plea of his predecessor Pope Benedict XV, when in 1915, he raised his voice in defence of ‘the sorely-afflicted Armenian people brought to the brink of annihilation.’ Look upon the people of this land who put their trust in you so long ago, who have passed through that great tribulation and never failed in their faithfulness to you. Wipe away every tear from their eyes and grant that their agony in the twentieth century will yield a harvest of life that endures forever. We are appalled by the terrible violence done to the Armenian people, and dismayed that the world still knows such inhumanity. But renewing our hope in your promise, we implore, O Lord, rest for the dead in the peace which knows no end, and the healing of still-open wounds through the power of your love. Our soul is longing for you, Lord, more than the watchman for daybreak, as we wait for the fullness of redemption won on the cross, for the light of Easter which is the dawn of invincible life, for the glory of the New Jerusalem where death shall be no more. O judge of the living and the dead, have mercy on us all,” John Paul II prayed at the Tzitzernakaberd Memorial.
During his prayer, the Pope said the words Metz Yeghern (“Great Calamity” or “Great Crime”) in Armenian, thus avoiding the term “genocide”. In a joint declaration signed by Pope John Paul II and Catholicos Garegin II in the Vatican in November 2000, the word “genocide” was used. Turkey subsequently protested the declaration.
The Pope then visited the nearby Genocide Museum and made a gift of a painting of Pope Benedict XV and the original letter sent by that Pope to Ottoman Sultan Mehmet V in September 1915 in an attempt to intercede on behalf of the Armenians after reports reached Rome of the forced exile of Armenians from Western Armenian towns and villages and the tortures inflicted upon them.
A memorial fir tree was planted in the Pope’s name in a special section of Tzitzernakaberd called Memorial Alley. The plaque reads: “Remember Lord the suffering of this nation’s children and bless Armenia.”
Note- This part is from Tatul Hakobyan’s book- ARMENIANS and TURKS
