19 June 2015. On Friday His Holiness Aram I was the speaker at the conference dedicated to the Armenian Cause, organized by the Committee for the Defense of the Armenian Cause (CDCA). The conference was held at the Republic Hall of the French Parliament in Paris.

Bruno Le Roux, Head of Socialist Group in Parliament and former Prime Minister opened the conference, and confirmed the commitment of the French government and people to the just cause of Armenians. After welcoming His Holiness Aram I and speaking of his important contribution to the ecumenical movement and interfaith relations, he invited the Catholicos to deliver his speech.

His Holiness first thanked France for its support of the Armenian Cause, as well as the CDCA committee for organizing the conference entitle “Justice and Reparation.” He then acknowledged the participants including Bishops and Prelates of France Vahan Hovhanessian, Armenian Orthodox Church of and Hovhaness Teyrouzian, Armenian Catholic Church.

In his speech, explaining the purpose of the lawsuit against the Constitutional Court of Turkey, the Catholicos insisted that the purpose should not be distorted by confusing it with procedural matters. The first and foremost aim of the lawsuit was to demand the return of the See in Sis – the Church and Monastery; a related and inseparable goal was the right to worship. The latter responded to the Lausanne Treaty and minority rights. His Holiness then added, in case the Constitutional Court of Turkey rejected the claim, the Catholicosate of Cilicia would take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), where the European Convention on Human Rights (article 9) upheld the freedom of worship and it was a fundamental Human Right according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

His Holiness then informed the audience of the conference the Catholicosate of Cilicia had organized in 2012 with international law experts to discuss the different options for claiming the restitution of church properties because of the strong relationship between justice and restitution. Referring to the lawsuit, the Catholicos said that it was a follow-up to the conference and assured them that the team of experts had also considered the hurdles they might encounter during the course of the lawsuit. In conclusion he declared “ Considering the place of the Catholicosate of Cilicia nationally and politically, its strong symbolic importance, we decided to demand the return of the See of the Catholic sate of Cilicia in Sis as the first step in the process of demanding the return of all properties belonging to the Church. This important decision will not only give a new momentum to our demand for justice, it will also open new venues to pursuit.

Before leaving the conference Hall, His Holiness thanked Bruno Le Roux the Parliamentarian for their private meeting prior to the conference, during which they discussed the presence of Christians in the Middle East and the way France could help Christians and Muslims to live together with justice and peace.