Iraqi Muslim Spiritual Leaders Call on Turkey to Apologize for Armenian Genocide

BAGHDAD — On April 15, Ambassador of Armenia to Iraq, Hrachya Poladian received the Chairman of the National Council of Iraq, Shaykh Yousif Al-Nasri, members of the Supreme Standing Committee for Co-existence and Community Peace of Iraqi Government, as well as the delegation of clergymen accompanying them.

In the course of the meeting, the Muslim spiritual leaders presented works aimed at strengthening the cooperation between national and religious minority communities in Iraq, underlining the invaluable role of the Iraqi Armenian community and the Armenian Apostolic Church in Iraq, especially during the war and its post-war period.

Issues related to the Armenian Genocide were discussed at the meeting with spiritual leaders. Shaykh Yousif Al-Nasri, strongly condemned the inhumane crime committed in the Ottoman Empire, underlining that the current Turkish authorities should ask the Armenian people for forgiveness for their sake.

At the end of the meeting, the spiritual leaders conveyed their greetings and best wishes to Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, emphasizing the importance of the treatment by the Iraqi authorities on religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq, highlighting the necessity of developing links to the interfaith solidarity of the two peoples in Iraq’s multinational and multi-dimensional mosaic.