"IRAN AND THE CAUCASUS" SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE IN
By Armen Manvelian

AZG Armenian Daily
10/06/2008
Yerevan

Science

A scientific conference under heading "Iran and the Caucasus;
unity and variety" was held at Golden Palace hotel in Yerevan on
June 6. The conference was organized by "Iran and the Caucasus"
international oriental journal (Leiden, Holland, )
with the cooperation of CIS Chair of Iranian Studies, Caucasian
Center for Iranian Studies (Yerevan), ARIA International University
(founders "Grand Holding" company and the Islamic Republic of Iran),
Scientific Research Center for Iranian Modern History (Tehran) and
Armenian Association for Academic Partnership and Support (ARMACAD)
(Yerevan).

More than 80 scientists from 22 countries of the world and 20
scientists of Armenia participated in the two-day conference. Political
figures and diplomats were also invited to the conference.

The welcome speech was delivered by the organizer of the conference,
Head of the Yerevan State University Department of Iranian Studies,
Editor-in-chief of "Iran and the Caucasus" journal and Rector of ARIA
International University Garnik Asatrian. According to him, there
are high hopes that the conference will give Armenia an opportunity
to become a big scientific center of social sciences. He mentioned
that the conference is the first one in the world that with its
subject-matter and clear statements of questions involves the whole
Iranian-Caucasian region in one scientific direction – from Central
Asia to Bosporus and from Derbend to Persian Gulf.

Issues and questions of almost all regional directions of social
sciences were discussed during the conference – history, literature,
linguistics, art, culture, politics, anthropology, archeology,
religion, historical and political geography, etc.

Representative of Iranian Modern History Institute Mussa Haqanii,
Rector of Yerevan State University Aram Simonian and others also
delivered speeches.

The main themes of the discussions were regional developments,
Armenian-Iranian relations, the Kurdish question, the role of Russia
in the region, etc.

The conference will be continual and will unite scientists and experts
on regional issues in Armenia once every two years.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress