TELEGRAM FOR THE DEATH OF ARMENIA'S PRIME MINISTER

VATICAN CITY, OCT 29, 1999 (VIS) - Following is the telegram, made public yesterday afternoon, that the Holy Father sent to President Robert Kocharian of Armenia, upon the death a day earlier of that country's prime minister, Vazken Sarkissian:

"Having learned of the dramatic death of Vazken Sarkissian, prime minister of Armenia, and with him other politicians of your country, I join in Your Excellency's pain, as well as that of all Armenians, wounded in their identity and in their institutions. I ask the Lord to receive in His peace and light those who were killed in the shooting, asking all Armenians of good will to remain united so that the nation might preserve its institutional stability and so that everyone might commit themselves to promote more and more each day the spiritual and material well-being of the population. I pray to God for the families in mourning, for the wounded and those close to them, that they might find comfort in their trials. Entrusting the future of the Armenian nation to the intercession of her saints, I implore almighty God for the gift of peace and hope for all the Armenian people."

TGR;DEATH PRIME MINISTER;...;ARMENIA; KOCHARIAN;VIS;19991029;Word: 210;