On Thursday, September 21, a gathering was organized at St. Vartan Cathedral Plaza to pray upon the tragic news from Artsakh. The event was under the auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan, Prelate, and Very Rev. Fr. Mesrop Parsamyan, Primate, to bring Armenians together in this hard time and motivate the community to continue the struggle.
Besides both religious leaders, speakers included Ani Tchaghlasian (A.R.F. Eastern Region Central Committee chair); Prof. Siobhan Nash-Marshall; Haig Gulian (Knights of Vartan); Aram Bashian (Pastoral Intern at the Armenian Evangelical Church); Aram Bowen (AGBU Young Professionals); Chantelle Nasri, A.N.C. New York chair; Nairi Diratsouian, A.Y.F. New Jersey chair, and Isabel Hagobian, A.Y.F. New York chair. Following the gathering, V. Rev. Fr. Mesrop invited the attendees inside the Cathedral for prayer and to light a candle.
In his message, Archbishop Anoushavan said:
“Today, it seems to be the end of the long journey we traveled to express our solidarity to our brothers and sisters living in Artsakh. It’s true that it’s the end of a chapter but the opening of a new chapter in modern Armenian History.
The world family, including the UN, the European Council and our government with their lukewarm approach, nourished a terrorist dictator who disregarded their statements and resolutions of the last nine months, even today breaching the ceasefire and acting in brutal ways to spread terror by kidnapping and beheading adults and displacing thousands of families from their ancestral land as their allies did back in 1915 during the first genocide.
We are grateful to those who have sincerely supported the just cause of Artsakh yet are frustrated like us because of the unjustifiable policies of the so-called leaders of the free world.
Today, we are gathered here as we are reminded of the sad experience of Khrimian Hayrig, who 150 years ago knocked on the doors of the Western countries and returned empty-handed yet with a great message: to depend on our common strength.
Let us all make a sacred oath in the name of Artsakh that from today on we unify all our means and efforts to become a strong Diaspora in support of homeland Hayastan and Artsakh.”