Plenary Statement of
RAFFI K. HOVANNISIAN
Member of Parliament and Chairman, Heritage Party
First Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Armenia
At the Sixth General Assembly of ICAPP
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
3 December 2010
Madam Chairwoman, Distinguished Colleagues:
It is my distinct pleasure to represent the Republic of Armenia in
its first official participation in the International Conference of
Asian Political Parties. This tenth-anniversary convocation is an
opportune threshold for Armenia, our ancient Christian nation blessed
recently with renewed sovereign statehood, a source at once of Western
civilization and of Eastern tradition, to join the family of ICAPP
delegates.
We seek together a better tomorrow for Asia and the world beyond.
The compelling interventions that have been offered over the course of
this auspicious meeting have duly outlined the global security,
environmental, socioeconomic and human challenges of the third
millennium. In our collective quest to safeguard equal educational,
employment, healthcare and developmental opportunities for all, it is
imperative not only to underscore the precepts of state sovereignty
and national interests but also the abiding respect for the
fundamental dignity, rights and empowerment of each and every man and
woman in national societies and international affairs.
In this connection and as the grandson of survivors of the Great
Genocide and National Dispossession of the Armenian people at the
hands of the Ottoman Turkish government, I pay tribute to its victims
as well as those of the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide and all
other crimes against humanity. Reconciliation must in all cases be
anchored in truth, justice and a liberating redemption. I
congratulate the Cambodian people on the recent, long-belated
conviction of a senior Khmer Rouge officer on the charge of
perpetration of genocide.
On genocide and denialism, we say NEVER AGAIN. They have no
legitimate place at ICAPP and among mankind.
Most unfortunately, the presentation you are about to witness by the
delegate from Azerbaijan, whose regime differs little from the
dictator Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge, promises to give you a living
example of attempted genocide, and then its denial, and then the abuse
of august forums such as this to spread partisan propaganda and so to
blame the victims themselves. I am sure this is nothing new for many
of you here who are the survivors of colonization and genocide,
occupation and oppression.
And you above all know – and have earned through your suffering – the
true value of truth, justice and liberty. The freedom-loving people
of Mountainous Karabagh (Artsakh) have learned the same lessons and
now await the world’s de jure recognition of the identity they have
preserved and the independence they have achieved in the great
Eurasian space.
From this faith no one can shake us.
From: A. Papazian