WikiLeaks-Armenia No 44
C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000557
SUBJECT: ARMENIAN KATHOLIKOS PLANS OUTREACH TO TURKEY, AZERBAIJAN
Classified By: Amb. John Evans, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
¶1. (C) The Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Karekin II, told Ambassador April 18 that he planned to visit Istanbul June 20-26 at the invitation of the Ecumenical Patriarch, but would not be venturing further into Turkey on this, his first visit there. Instead, he hoped to make a second trip in October or November that might include places of pilgrimage such as Ani and Akhtamar, where he believed restoration works were nearing completion. He said his entourage on the first occasion would consist of clergy, possibly as many as ten bishops. On the second trip, to be worked out with Turkish officials during the first, he hoped to take as many as seventy in his train, including Defense Minister Serzh Sargsyan, who would go in a private capacity as a Church member, as he did on an earlier trip to Jerusalem.
¶2. (C) The Katholikos expressed an interest in seeing Ambassador Ross Wilson during his Istanbul visit, or, if the Ambassador were not planning to be in Istanbul during that window, possibly at a later date. He remembers Amb. Wilson from his humanitarian activities in Yerevan during the 1988 Armenian earthquake, when he was still Bishop of Yerevan, and said he would appreciate an opportunity to discuss Armenian-Turkish relations. Karekin said he did not plan to visit Ankara, because he did not want to be put in the position of having to pay respects at the memorial to Ataturk, as his predecessor had done, but also did not want to be put in the position of having to decline such an invitation.
¶3. (C) The Katholikos also told the Ambassador that he planned to meet with the Sheikoeslam of Azerbaijan in Moscow in early July at a meeting at which the Georgian Primate would also be present (NFI). Karekin has a brother in Moscow who is the Armenian bishop there.
¶4. (C) COMMENT: Karekin is not happy about the relative stasis in Turkish-Armenian and Armenian-Azeri relations, but he takes the long view. He does not accept that the conflicts are by their nature religious, and he believes that relations across both borders have the potential to be better than anyone anticipates. He thinks that to educate young people to hate their neighbor is nothing less than a sin, and blames politicians and educators in all three countries for perpetuating national stereotypes. At the same time, he says that “no Armenian will debate the reality of the Genocide; every family lost at least someone.” END COMMENT
EVANS
