HAY DAT COMMITTEES DISCUSSED THE ACTIVITIES THEY ARE IMPLEMENTING
14:16 . 02/04
Hay Dat [Armenian Cause] committees which have been functioning in
different countries of the world for more than 6 decades, deal with
the Armenian Genocide recognition and works connected with that,
with problems connected with Armenia and Artsakh, as well as issues
of protection of the rights of Armenians in Javakhk, and contribute to
the development of the relations between various countries and Armenia.
The first of the Hay Dat offices was founded in Washington in 1984.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) presently carries
out activity in several directions: resolutions on the return of
the properties of Christian Churches and the Armenian Genocide
recognition, which are topics of discussion by the US lawmakers,
financial allocations to Javakhk and Nagorno-Karabakh from foreign
appropriations of the American government.
In this context, recently a Democrat member of the House of
Representatives, Brad Sherman called for expanding U.S. assistance to
Javakhk within the frames of USAID-2013 budget assistance to Georgia.
The dialogue with USAID in this direction is in process.
“In addition to our efforts aimed to increase financial assistance
to Karabakh and Javakhk, we also try to promote the development of
trade relations between the Armenian and American governments. We
hold meetings with US Ambassador John Heffern in Yerevan in order to
realize these projects,” Chairman of ARF-D Armenian National Committee
of America Qen Hachikyan said.
The problems of the Armenians in Javakhk are in the centre of
attention of Hay Dat Office opened recently in Brussels. Through
cooperation with the office, Coordinator of Armenian NGOs Council of
Javakhk Artak Gabrielyan lately visited Brussels. During his visit the
latter presented the problems of Armenians in Javakhk and proposals
for their solutions to the members of the European parliament.
“The European officials closely got acquainted with the problems of
the Armenians in Javakhk for the first time. Both the MPs and the
council members told us to present clear programmes and examples from
now on so that EU is able to influence on the Georgian authorities,”
Deputy Chairman of Hay Dat Committee of Europe Gaspar Karapetyan said.
“As a continuation of the work started, we’ll meet with the EU office
in Georgia in the near future, in order to raise the same issues,”
Artak Gabrielyan said.
On the threshold of presidential elections in France, Hay Dat Office in
France carries out works with the two leading candidates. A number of
Armenian organizations, including Hay Dat Committee support Socialist
candidate Francois Hollande, who supports the Armenian Genocide denial
criminalisation bill. The present president Nikolas Sarkozy had also
passed and promised a resolution on this.
“We met him, and he promised the new bill will be passed if he is
elected a president. We are not sure that he’ll keep his promise. We
saw what happened over the past 5 years. But the relations are not
bad,” the representative of ARF-D Central Committee in Western Europe
Murad Papazian said.
After the presidential and parliamentary elections in Russia,
meetings were held with the Russian authorities in order to discuss
new projects with the new parliament and administration parallel to
Armenia’s official diplomacy.
“Particularly, we are taking efforts in the direction of developing the
relations with the regions of Russia. We have planned developing of
Armenia’s ties with the regions with Muslim population. For example,
the delegation headed by Bashkiria’s president will arrive in Armenia
in the near future,” Head of “Hay Dat” Moscow office Yuri Navoyan said.
Hay Dat Committee of Canada presently carries out work in the direction
of opening a Canadian Embassy in Armenia. It was owing to the efforts
of Hay Dat Committee of South America that the Argentinean Embassy
was opened in Yerevan. There are new projects in Uruguay. It was the
first state to recognize the Armenian Genocide in 1965.
“The Congress of Uruguay allocated a sum from the budget for the
construction of the Armenian Genocide museum this year,” Chairman of
the South America Hay Dat Committee Pablo Kendikyan said.
The Lebanon Committee presently follows the economic, political
activity of Turkey in the Middle East and its influence.
The conference of ARF-D Hay Dat committees held on March 30-April 1 in
Yerevan discussed the activities of the offices and the future plans.
This conference was the fourth. Such a meeting was organized in 2003
for the first time.