Azernews.Az

Armenia’s top clerical body has refuted the statement on Armenian Catholicos Garegin II’s paying tribute during his recent visit to Baku to the Alley of Martyrs where Azerbaijanis who fell during the Garabagh war were laid to rest. The refutation was made by the Echmiadzin Church’s press-office, Novosti Armenii news agency reported.
Azerbaijan’s top cleric, Caucasus Clerical Office (CCO) chairman, Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazada had told the Baku-based ANS TV channel that Garegin II, who visited Azerbaijan April 26-27 to attend a meeting of world clerical leaders, paid tribute at the cemetery. According to Pashazada, the Armenian clerics visited the Alley at night -- when there were no mourners at the site.
The Armenian clerical body has appealed to the CCO on the matter, voicing hope that Baku would retract the statement. "This information is absolutely false," the Echmiadzin Church said.
The CCO said in a statement Monday that there had been a misunderstanding.
"CCO chairman Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazada regrets that misunderstanding emerged due to the inaccurate information provided to him by the persons on the Azerbaijani side who accompanied the Armenian clerical leader. It became clear from further clarifications that Garegin and the people accompanying him had not gone to the Alley of Martyrs."
The CCO also said those responsible for the inaccuracy had already been punished.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war in the early 1990s that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven other Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Despite numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered negotiations, peace talks have been fruitless so far and refugees remain stranded.*