Armenian Church Catholicos asks German President to call for POWs release in Azerbaijan

Catholicos Karekin II met on April 1 with visiting President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Büdenbender at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

Karekin II presented the “great role of the Armenian Apostolic Church and Holy Etchmiadzin in shaping the national and Christian identity of the Armenian people, and its important mission of national preservation,” the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin said in a press release.

The Catholicos said that throughout history the Armenian nation withstood numerous sufferings and trials, including the Armenian Genocide, “with the power of faith and relying on God.”

Taking into account that the German President will travel to Azerbaijan from Armenia, the Catholicos asked him to raise in Baku “the issues of the Nagorno-Karabakh people’s just rights, the release of Armenian prisoners of war and preservation of Armenian spiritual-cultural heritage,” noting that only the fair resolution of these issues will enable to establish sustainable peace in the region and create conditions for peaceful co-existence of the peoples.

The German President highlighted the role of religions in ensuring peace and solidarity in the life of peoples. He told Karekin II that he would make mediating efforts for the benefit of establishing final peace in the region, according to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.