The conference scheduled for 11-13 November 2014 opened on Monday 10 November with a visit to the “Dzidzernagapert” Monument, led by the two Holinesses Karekin II and Aram I.

After laying the wreaths in silence, the two Catholicoi held a memorial service in front of the eternal fire burning at the centre of the monument.

At the end of the solemn service, the press interviewed the two Catholicoi. His Holiness Karekin II spoke of the conference agenda and the classification and the process of making the martyrs saints. Catholicos Aram I said that in addition to making our martyrs saints and organizing different events, we must, in Armenia and the diaspora, demand our rights. Referring to the proposed litigation demanding the return of the Centre of the Catholicosate in Sis from Turkey, Catholicos Aram I continued, “legal cases are usually complicated and difficult. We should work together, collect studies already undertaken regarding international human rights laws and identify the best legal arguments concerning the return of all church and community properties.”