European Court Says Refusal To Register Jehovah's Witnesses Violates ECHR

In Christian Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in the NKR v. Armenia, (ECHR, March 22, 2022), the European Court of Human Rights held that refusal by Nagorno Karabakh to register Jehovah's Witnesses as a religious organization amounts to a violation by Armenia of Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. [Thanks to Law & Religion UK for the lead.]

Biden Labels 1915 Armenian Massacre As "Genocide"

For the first time yesterday, a sitting U.S. President labelled the 1915 massacre of Armenians as "genocide". In a Statement (full text), President Biden said in part:

Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring. Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination. We honor the victims of the Meds Yeghern so that the horrors of what happened are never lost to history. And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms....

The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.

NPR reports on the President's statement.

Presidential Proclamations On Yom HaShoah and Meds Yeghern

Yesterday, which was Yom HaShoah, President Trump signed a Proclamation (full text):

ask[ing]  the people of the United States to observe the Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust, April 23 through April 30, 2017, and the solemn anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camps, with appropriate study, prayers and commemoration, and to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and Nazi persecution by internalizing the lessons of this atrocity so that it is never repeated.

The text of the Proclamation has been posted on Trump's Facebook page, but has not yet appeared on the White House website.

Yesterday the President also signed a Proclamation (full text) marking Armenian Remembrance Day. As pointed out by Hurriyet, consistent with past practice the Proclamation uses the Armenian term Meds Yeghern (Great Calamity) and avoids referring to the atrocities as a "genocide."

UPDATE: And here is the full text of President Trump's speech on Tuesday at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum National Days of Remembrance.

New Study Examines Power of Orthodox Churches In Former Soviet Republics

The London-based Foreign Policy Centre last week (Oct. 28) released a 79-page report (full text) titled Traditional Religion and Political Power: Examining the Role of the Church in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine and Moldova. Here is an excerpt from the report's Executive Summary:

In all four states the churches are looking to entrench their role in society and are testing the limits of their influence given that they are the most trusted institutions in each country. To varying extents they have all used a ‘traditional values’ agenda, focused primarily and most successfully on opposition to LGBTI rights, to bolster their support. The Russian Church and state have also been trying to promote this traditional values agenda as part of their ethos of ‘the Russian World’ with which they have been looking to influence the churches and societies of their ‘near abroad’. The Russian social agenda tallies with that of the orthodox communities in these four countries, though this does not always translate into geo-political support for Russia as some of the churches are keen to assert their independence. Having been pushed to the margins of society in Soviet times, the Orthodox churches have taken the opportunity to place themselves at the centre of national and political life in Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine and Moldova, a position they are unlikely to relinquish in the near future.

Eurasianet reports on the study.

Armenian Christians Sue In Turkey To Regain Church Property

In Turkey yesterday, the Armenian Christian church filed suit in Turkey's Constitutional Court seeking to regain ownership of its historic headquarters, the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia. According to a press release by the Church:

This lawsuit reflects the determination of Armenians worldwide, on the Centenary of the Genocide, to reclaim their sacred religious property and Christian heritage in lands where they lived peacefully for centuries.

.... Under the Ottoman Empire, the Catholicosate of Cilicia was recognized as an independent church.  During the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, the Armenian population of Sis was massacred and deported, and its Christian holy sites were pillaged and confiscated.