On Apr. 24, after a meeting with His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians as part of the visit to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the delegation of U.S. Congressmen led by Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives Ed Royce visited the newly built Ecumenical Center of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin with the accompaniment of U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Armenia John Heffern, as well as Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America Ken Hachikian, ANCA members Raffi Hamparian, Nora Hovsepian, Steve Hovsepian and Raffi Garagashian.

During the visit, the guests were introduced to the mobile exhibition organized by the Armenia Inter-Church Charitable Round Table Foundation entitled “Holy Etchmiadzin and the Armenian Genocide” and participated in a discussion on the situation of religious organizations and Churches in the Republic of Turkey.

During the talks, Director of the Inter-Church Relations Department of the Mother See, Father, Bishop Hovakim Manukyan addressed the Armenian Church’s ecumenical relations and presented the actions of the religious organizations in Turkey and Northern Cyprus, including the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian Churches for the protection of the rights of the Churches. His Holiness Hovakim particularly touched upon the history and current state of affairs of several churches in historic Western Armenia and told the U.S. Congressmen that the Supreme Patriarch appreciates their legislative initiative to return the church properties in Turkey’s territory to their rightful owners.

After the meeting, the guests toured the museums of the Mother See and visited the Mother Temple.

Information system of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin