Armenian Patriarch: Neither denial nor obsessive hostility heals wounds
Patriarch Sahak Maşalyan of Turkey’s Armenians, as every year, delivered a speech at the service held at the Surp Hagop Church in Altımermer on this Apr 24 Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
In his speech, Maşalyan said, “Beneath these lands lie not only our pains, but also the still-bleeding wounds of others. We cannot find a solution by telling only our own story. We must also listen to others, understand their suffering and seek common ground for a shared future. With this understanding, we repeat our call for the establishment of peace, reconciliation and friendship between the Turkish and Armenian peoples.”
Full text of Maşalyan’s message as reported by Agos:
Our beloved faithful people, today is again Apr 24. It is a day that invites us to bow with respect before one of the most painful pages of our history. Today recalls the tragedy experienced a century ago, which left deep marks on our national and spiritual life. We commemorate the losses, deportation, exile and indescribable pain passed down from generation to generation that our people experienced during the years of World War I. But this commemoration is not only meant to remain in the dark pages of the past. It is also a call for us to turn toward the future by making sense of what we have lived through. In these lands, where different peoples lived together for centuries, the tradition of peaceful coexistence suffered a deep wound. Yet the same geography also reminds us of this truth: peoples are called not to eternal hostility, but to living together, dialogue and mutual understanding.
Beneath these lands lie not only our pains, but also the still-bleeding wounds of others. We cannot find a solution by telling only our own story. We must also listen to others, understand their suffering and seek common ground for a shared future. With this understanding, we repeat our call for the establishment of peace, reconciliation and friendship between the Turkish and Armenian peoples. The tragedy of the past should not be a permanent wall, but a bridge built with cautionary lessons for constructing a more just and peaceful future. Neither denial nor obsessive hostility heals wounds. Likewise, political instrumentalization does not serve the rapprochement of peoples. Real progress is born of dialogue based on sincerity, mutual respect and human values. For this reason, we invite all sides to build bridges of friendship, develop cultural and economic cooperation, and create an environment in which history can be discussed not with fear and hatred, but with the search for truth and justice.
We welcome with appreciation all steps taken in the past and present toward mutual sensitivity and rapprochement. In this context, we would also like to mention the condolence messages issued every year on the occasion of Apr 24 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which are also addressed to our Patriarchate. The respect and sensitivity expressed in these messages are considered important steps that can contribute to the development of mutual understanding between peoples.
We see these messages as an expression of human conscience and as meaningful gestures that can contribute to rebuilding trust. They remind us that even in the face of the heaviest historical burdens, the path of respect and communication can be chosen. Today, as the commemoration day of our canonized martyrs, we turn to their intercession. They are living witnesses not only of our memory, but also of our faith. They invite us not to remain in the darkness of the past, but to build the future with hope.
As Almighty God said through the Prophet: “Behold, I am doing a new thing” (Isaiah 43:19). We must seek this renewal in our own hearts. Dear brothers and sisters, may today’s commemoration be not only mourning, but also an opportunity for renewal. May God, in His mercy, touch our hearts and the hearts of our neighbors, so that we may overcome the shadows of the past and build a future based on justice, peace and brotherhood. May Almighty God, through the intercession of the Holy Virgin Mary and all our saintly martyrs, bless the Turkish and Armenian peoples, guide them toward the path of living together in reconciliation and peace, and remove wars and hatred from the world. May God’s love, mercy and grace be upon all humanity now and forever.
Amen