YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 28, ARMENPRESS.  Archimandrite Koryun Baghdasaryan and senior teacher Hambardzum Keshishian of Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem will attend the funeral of former Israeli President attend Shimon Peres, Archimandrite Koryun Baghdasaryan told “Armenpress”. In his words Peres was in rather good relations with the Patriarchate. “In 1988, when the earthquake hit Gyumri, Peres personally visited the Patriarchate and made a personal donation of nearly 10 thousand shekels”, Koryun Baghdasaryan said.

However, the Armenian community of Israel will remember Shimon Peres as an individual denying the Armenian Genocide. In an interview with “Armenpress”, Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of Jerusalem Hakob Sevan said that Peres used to hold the opinion that the Armenian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust are incomparable.

Archimandrite Koryun Baghdasaryan recalled that back in 2002 Peres visited Turkey, where he talked about the inadmissibility of talking about such comparisons, without using the word “genocide” when referring to the Armenian Genocide.

Shimon Peres, one of Israel’s defining political figures has died at the age of 93, two weeks after suffering a stroke.

Peres had twice served as prime minister of Israel and later as the country’s ninth president. He had been seriously ill on a respirator in an Israeli hospital near Tel Aviv and died after his condition deteriorated sharply.

Among those who have said they will attend his funeral and burial on Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl on Friday are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, as well as Prince Charles and François Hollande.