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Archbishop Choloyan Urges Vigilance
Against Genocide in Capitol Hill Meetings
Prelate visits with 21
legislators, offers moving invocation at genocide observance
 WASHINGTON—His Eminence Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the
Armenian Apostolic Church of the Eastern United States,
urged Members of Congress to speak with moral clarity about
the Armenian Genocide and to work to end the ongoing
genocide in Darfur during a full day of more than 20 Capitol
Hill meetings leading up to the April 23rd Congressional
Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, reported the ANCA.
 The Archbishop’s meetings included discussions with Senators
and Representatives from traditional Armenian American
communities in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania, as well as those from growing communities in
Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Among
the legislators he met with were Senate Foreign Relations
Committee chairman Joe Biden (D-Del.), Small Business and
Entrepreneurship Committee chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.),
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.),
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), House Homeland Security
Committee Ranking Republican Peter King (R-N.Y.),
Congressional Human Rights Caucus co-chair Rep. Frank Wolf
(R-Va.), Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.),
Rep. Phil English (R-Pa.), Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.),
Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), Rep. James Jordan (R-Ohio), Rep.
Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.),
Rep. Michael McNulty (D-N.Y.), Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.),
Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.),
and Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.).
 Archbishop Choloyan was joined in his Congressional visits
by Rev. Father Sarkis Aktavoukian, Pastor of the Soorp
Khatch Armenian Apostolic Church in Bethesda, Md.; ANCA
national board member Onnik Petrossian; ANCA legislative
affairs director Raffi Karakashian, ANCA government affairs
Director Kate Nahapetian, and ANCA Eastern Region executive
director Karine Birazian.
 After a full day of meetings, Archbishop Choloyan joined
with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Majority Leader Steny
Hoyer (D-Md.), and over 15 Members of Congress at the
Capitol Hill commemoration of the 93rd anniversary of the
Armenian Genocide, organized by the Congressional Caucus on
Armenian issues. During his moving invocation, Archbishop
Choloyan offered a special prayer for the “safety of all of
the men and women of our armed forces serving around the
world.” He went on to praise the efforts of Ambassador Henry
Morgenthau and the diplomatic corps of the time of the
genocide who “shared in the responsibility of publicizing
the genocide of the Armenians and administering relief.”
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