ANCA demands apology from amb. Ricciardone

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) called for an apology from U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone over his recent written response to a Senate inquiry falsely claiming that "most of the Christian churches functioning prior to 1915 are still operating as churches."

As ANCA reported, the August 15 letter from ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reviewed the facts surrounding the Ambassador's offensive and inaccurate comment whitewashing the vast destruction of Christian holy sites, noting that the Ambassador's remarks reflect "his eagerness to embrace the government of Turkey’s false and hateful genocide denial narrative, at lengths beyond even the Administration’s longstanding and shameful complicity in Turkey’s denials of the Armenian Genocide."

“Most of the Christian churches functioning prior to 1915 are still operating as churches. Some churches of significance operate as museums. The remaining have fallen into disrepair or were converted to mosques for lack of use,” Ricciardone said in response to Sen. Menendez question.

The ANCA letter specifically calls for three actions: 1) An official statement by ambassador Ricciardone and the Department of State retracting his response; 2) A full and formal correction affirming that the vast majority of Christian churches on the territory of present-day Turkey were desecrated, destroyed or stolen by the Ottoman and Republican Turkish governments, and that any surviving churches and all religious properties should be returned to their rightful Armenian, Greek, Assyrian, Syriac, Pontian and other Christian church and lay ownerships, and; 3) An apology from Ambassador Ricciardone.