Argentine president expresses solidarity on Genocide

The President of Argentina Cristina Kirchner met on Tuesday with representatives of the Armenian community of Argentina to “express her solidarity with the hundredth anniversary of the Armenian Genocide,” Asbarez reports, citing a statement by the presidential office published by Agencia Prensa Armenia.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Justice and Human Rights Office, Julio Alak, along with Archbishop Kissag Mouradian, Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Alberto Djeredjian, president of the Administrative Institution of the Armenian Church, Bartholome Ketchian, representative of the Armenian National Committee of South America, businessman Eduardo Eurnekian, president of the Corporation America, Leon Arslanian, former Minister of Justice of the Nation, and Dr. Daniel Stamboulian, president of FUNCEI.

President Kirchner’s meeting came after Turkey’s minister of European Affiars, Volkan Bozkir, in remarks broadcast on national TV on Monday said the Argentineans as a whole, and not just the Pope, had been “brainwashed by rich and powerful Armenians,” reported the New York TImes.

“In Argentina,” Bozkir asserted, “the Armenian diaspora controls the media and business.” The minister provided no evidence for his assertion and was not asked for any, added the New York Times.

“I would like to note that the pope is from Argentina, a country that hosted Nazi war criminals who perpetrated unspeakable crimes against humanity,” Bozkir said, while speaking at rally in Istanbul, reported Today’s Zaman.