Category: News

Pope Francis and Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II drove around the Vartanants Square in Gyumri in Papamobile following a Holy Mass in Armenia’s second largest city.

SPEECHՕF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA SERZH SARGSYAN
AT THE MEETING OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES, PUBLIC AND DIPLOMATIC CORPS ACCREDITED IN YEREVAN

Yerevan, 24 June 2016

 Your Holiness,

Eminences,

Dear Guests,

What a special day the Lord has made for us.

It is an immense honor for our people and me personally to welcome the leader of the Catholic World, His Holiness Pope Francis on the Armenian soil, which was the first to adopt Christianity as a state religion and withstood sufferings through millennia for the Christian identity and values.

Your Holiness,

Your visit was long-awaited in our country. With Your dedication to humanitarian ideas and the universal values of love, peace, and kindness, and with your constant care for matters of concern to the Armenians, You enjoy the great respect and admiration of the Armenian people.

Thank you for gracing us all with this warm historic moment. Thank you for bringing blessing, happiness, and peace to our nation with your presence, for filling our homes and hearts with warmth. Approving the official motto of your visit as a “Visit to the First Christian Nation” and characterizing the trip as a “pilgrimage” by Your Holiness, bears testament to the care Your Holiness has towards our country and our people. It equally attests to the unique bond between the Roman Catholic Church and Armenian Apostolic Church. For this, we are thankful and grateful to you.

Distinguished Guests,

15 years ago, in 2001, the visit to Armenia of His Holiness Pope John Paul II was on the occasion of the 1700th anniversary of declaring Christianity as the state religion in our country. Today, this historic visit of Pope Francis signifies another key anniversary—the 25th anniversary of restoring independent Armenian statehood—a cherished celebration for every Armenian.

Throughout the voyage of our millennia-long history, the Armenian people have faced many hardships — from Genocide and foreign oppression to indifference of friends and denial. It faced but never lost the ability to believe in the ideals of humanity, tolerance, and solidarity. It never lost owing to the faith, the values, the peace-loving nature, and for the great humanists who extended a helping hand.

One cannot but believe in the Triumph of Justice when in 100 years, a timeframe that divides 1915 from 2015, the message of justice is being conveyed to the mankind from the heart of the Catholic World heralding that the first of the mass atrocities having affected the humanity, the Armenian Genocide, is a historical fact and an undeniable reality; when notwithstanding all circumstances falsification and denial start to shake in the face of historic justice. This was testified by the new wave of recognition of the Armenian genocide that followed the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis.

We don’t look for culprits. We don’t spread accusations. We simply want things to be called by their names, as it will allow two neighboring peoples to move towards genuine reconciliation and a shared prosperous future by recognizing the past and embracing forgiveness and a clean conscience.

Your Holiness,

Dear Guests,

The Armenian people’s decision to declare Christianity as a state religion in 301 was indeed a key event in world history. However, it went beyond defining the destiny of the Armenian people: the Christian Faith became the hallmark of the Armenian identity, predetermining our historical course and the values and culture that steered us to the 21st century, to the present, to this very day.

Christianity is deeply-rooted into the Armenian soil and Armenian souls. To remain faithful to Christianity this is a key characteristic of the Armenian people. There is a reason why Armenian churches and cross-stones can be found virtually any country of the world. There is a reason why Saint Gregory of Narek, a great child of the Armenian people, was declared Doctor of the Universal Church, the highest title of the Catholic Church, joining the 36 greatest thinkers in Christianity. It is an honor, a milestone in the appreciation of the nation, which reaffirmed the same-source Christian value system underlying the bonds between Armenia and the Holy See.

Christianity is more than a religion for us. It is a lifestyle, one that instilled in the Armenian people the desire to live in peace and the philosophy of overcoming difficulties restraint and dignity. The more Christian we became, the more we respected and appreciated the faith of others, the more tolerant and peace-loving we became, capable of coexisting peacefully with other peoples and taking even better care of the spiritual-cultural legacy of others on our land.

Examples of inter-religious friendship are numerous. Cooperation between the Republic of Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Iran is a case in point. Or, in the Middle East, until the unfavorable developments of the recent past, the presence of peaceful and prosperous Armenian communities and their harmonious coexistence with the host nations and national and religious minorities. We are watching with great sorrow the practices of vandalism and xenophobia in the Middle East, the only aim of which is the deletion of historical memory from those areas through a cultural massacre.

Your Holiness,

As you rightly noted in your address on 12 April, the peoples of this complicated region of ours need peace, referring to the peoples that, in the past, despite their differences and pressure, enjoyed extensive periods of peaceful life and even helped one another in difficulties.

Today, Armenia still aspires for peace. In any event, we prefer peaceful negotiation to shooting. We are ready for peaceful regional coexistence, as hard as the road to peace may be. It is perhaps because durable peace is based upon the idea of people’s freedom and free expression of will.

Your Holiness,

“Peace is both God’s gift and a human achievement.” I agree completely. I believe in human achievements, in the ones who maintain peace at the price of their lives every second, in the ones that compel peace.

I am an optimist: I believe that humanity’s dreams of freedom and peace, cherished for centuries, will become reality one day.

Welcome to the First Christian Nation.

The reception ceremony for His Holiness Pope Francis has started at the Presidential Palace where he will meet with the Armenian authorities, representatives of the Armenian public, and members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Yerevan. Prior to that, President Serzh Sargsyan and His Holiness Pope Francis had a private meeting at the Golden Hall of the Presidential Palace.

The President expressed gratitude to His Holiness for accepting the invitation to visit Armenia – the First Christian Nation, for bringing blessings and grace to our ancient land and long-suffering people.

At the meeting, in accordance with the protocol there took place the ceremony of gift exchange. President Serzh Sargsyan presented to His Holiness Pope Francis a bronze statuette of the genius of the medieval Armenian thought, a Doctor of the Universal Church Saint Gregory of Narek. During the Pope’s visit, at the Presidential Palace there took place the ceremony of cancelling of a stamp and four postage stamps designed into a mini sheet in a form of a cross, dedicated to the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to Armenia. The President of Armenia presented them to His Holiness Pope Francis. The souvenir sheet with one stamp depicts Pope Francis against the backgrounds of Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, as well as the logo dedicated to the visit of Pope Francis to Armenia and the coat of arms of Pope Francis. The format of four stamps designed into a form of a cross has a symbolic meaning for the visit of Pope Francis to the first Christian Nation. The four stamps depict Pope Francis against the backgrounds of the statue of Saint Gregory the Illuminator donated to the Vatican by Armenia, a monument dedicated to the theme “Armenia – the first Christian nation” in Yerevan, inner parts of the Main Cathedral of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and Saint Peter`s Basilica in the Vatican. The souvenir sheet bears the inscription “Pope Francis. Armenia. 24-26 June, 2016”, as well as “Visit to the first Christian Nation” which is the official motto of this visit.

On the occasion of the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis’s visit to the Republic of Armenia, the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia has issue a commemorative medal. Pope Francis has also received it as a gift from the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan. On one side of the medal there is Khor Virap monastery against the background of Mount Ararat and the dates of the Pope’s visit, and the reverse side of the medal depicts the statue of Saint Gregory the Illuminator at the outer niche of Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and the coat of arms of the Catholic Church.

His Holiness Pope Francis presented to the President of Armenia the original of the commemorative medal which was made on a special occasion of his visit to the Republic of Armenia.

The Central Bank of Armenia has issued a commemorative medal dedicated to the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Republic of Armenia.

Adoption of Christianity as a state religion in Armenia in 301 AD is associated with the name of Saint Gregory the Illuminator who is a saint recognized by all traditional Christian Churches. For centuries his venerated relics were spread all over the Christian world.

Lending importance to strengthening of the existing brotherly relations between Christian Churches, in 2000 His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians paid a visit to the Roman Catholic Church and her leader, His Holiness Pope John Paul II, who, in his turn, in 2001 participated in celebrations dedicated to the 1700th Anniversary of adoption of Christianity as a state religion in Armenia.

Scotland’s first minister has said a second independence referendum is “highly likely” after the UK voted to leave the EU, the BBC reports.

Nicola Sturgeon said it was “democratically unacceptable” that Scotland faced the prospect of being taken out of the EU against its will.

She said the Scottish government would begin preparing legislation to enable another independence vote.

Scotland voted in favour of the UK staying in the EU by 62% to 38%.

The UK as a whole has voted to leave, by a margin of 52% to 48%, prompting UK Prime Minister David Cameron to announce he would stand down by October.

The word ‘genocide’ was not included in the  initial text Pope Francis was to deliver at the Presidential Palace today, Director of the Holy See’s Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi told a press conference in Yerevan. He said “the Pope says what he finds appopriate, and no can decides what the Pontiff should say.”

“The Pope had no reason to avoid the word ‘genocide,’ the Vatican Spokesman said.

Pope Francis not only used the word ‘genocide’, but also described the tragedy as “the first of the deplorable series of catastrophes of the past century, made possible by twisted racial, ideological or religious aims that darkened the minds of the tormentors even to the point of planning the annihilation of entire peoples.”

Fr. Lombardi said he can’t predict Turkey’s reaction, but added: “The Pope always speaks about peace, reconciliation and dialogue. We must remember the past to prevent new wars in the future, we must understand the lessons of the past to prevent their reoccurrence the future.”

As fo the results of the Pontiff’s first day in Armenia, Fr. Lombardi said: “The Pope is in good health and happy to be Armenia.’”

He described the joint prayer of the leaders of the two Churches at the Mother Cathedra in Etchmiadzin as a “powerful meeting.”

The Spokesman said the Pontiff was most surprised at the gift he received from the Armenian Catholicos – the Pope’s portrait 1 mm in size, which can be seen only though a microscope.

Vatican Radio – Pope Francis has sent the following telegram to the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan:

Flying over Turkey on my pastoral visit to Armenia, I extend best wishes to Your Excellency and your fellow citizens, with prayers that the Most High will bestow upon all in the nation His choicest blessings.

Pope Francis prayed in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of the Holy Etchmiadzin on Friday upon arrival in the country on his 14th Apostolic Journey, along with His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch-Catholicos of All the Armenians, and a select group of around 100 other dignitaries.

Pope Francis and His Holiness Karekin II exchanged a sign of peace and prayed Psalm 122 together at the high altar.

In remarks prepared for the occasion, Pope Francis thanked God for “the light of faith kindled in your land, the faith that has given Armenia its particular identity and made it a herald of Christ among the nations”.

He said faith prompted Armenia to become the first nation to accept Christianity as its religion in the year 301, as persecutions under the Emperor Diocletian still raged throughout the Roman Empire.

“For Armenia, faith in Christ has not been like a garment to be donned or doffed as circumstances or convenience dictate, but an essential part of its identity, a gift of immense significance, to be accepted with joy, preserved with great effort and strength, even at the cost of life itself.”

The Holy Father also thanked God for “the journey that the Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church have undertaken through sincere and fraternal dialogue for the sake of coming to share fully in the Eucharistic banquet”.

Despite the advance in ecumenical union, Pope Francis noted the conflicts and division which mark our world and which require a solid, shared Christian witness.

“Tragically, our world is marked by divisions and conflicts, as well as by grave forms of material and spiritual poverty, including the exploitation of persons, not least children and the elderly.  It expects from Christians a witness of mutual esteem and fraternal cooperation capable of revealing to every conscience the power and truth of Christ’s resurrection.”

He also said the spirit of ecumenism both encourages dialogue and “also prevents the exploitation and manipulation of faith, for it requires us to rediscover faith’s authentic roots, and to communicate, defend and spread truth with respect for the dignity of every human being and in ways that reveal the presence of the love and salvation we wish to spread”.

The Holy Father concluded his address asking God to bless all Armenians and preserve them in the faith received from their ancestors.

“May Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, Saint Gregory the Illuminator, ‘pillar of light for the Holy Church of the Armenians’, and Saint Gregory of Narek, Doctor of the Church, bless all of you and the entire Armenian nation.”

Below, please find the official translation of Pope Francis’ speech:

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis

Visit to the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral

Etchmiadzin, 24 June 2016

Venerable Brother,

Supreme Patriarch-Catholicos of All Armenians,

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is very moving for me to have crossed the threshold of this holy place, a witness to the history of your people and the centre from which its spirituality radiates.  I consider it a precious gift of God to be able to approach the holy altar from which the light of Christ shone forth in Armenia.  I greet the Catholicos of All the Armenians, His Holiness Karekin II, with heartfelt thanks for his gracious invitation to visit Holy Etchmiadzin, and all the Archbishops and Bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church.  I thank you for your cordial and joyful welcome.  Thank you, Your Holiness, for having welcomed me into your home.  This sign of love eloquently bespeaks, better than any words can do, the meaning of friendship and fraternal charity.

On this solemn occasion, I give thanks to the Lord for the light of faith kindled in your land, the faith that has given Armenia its particular identity and made it a herald of Christ among the nations.  Christ is your glory and your light.  He is the sun who has illuminated and enlivened you, accompanied and sustained you, especially in times of trial.  I bow before the mercy of the Lord, who willed that Armenia should become, in the year 301, the first nation to accept Christianity as its religion, at a time when persecutions still raged throughout the Roman Empire.

For Armenia, faith in Christ has not been like a garment to be donned or doffed as circumstances or convenience dictate, but an essential part of its identity, a gift of immense significance, to be accepted with joy, preserved with great effort and strength, even at the cost of life itself.  As Saint John Paul II wrote: “With the ‘baptism’ of the Armenian community… the people acquired a new identity that was to become a constitutive and inseparable part of Armenian life.  It would no longer be possible to think that faith did not figure as an essential element among the components of this identity” (Apostolic Letter for the 1700th Anniversary of the Baptism of the Armenian People [2 February 2001], 2).  May the Lord bless you for this luminous testimony of faith.  It is a shining example of the great efficacy and fruitfulness of the baptism received over seventeen hundred years ago, together with the eloquent and holy sign of martyrdom, which has constantly accompanied the history of your people.

I also thank the Lord for the journey that the Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church have undertaken through sincere and fraternal dialogue for the sake of coming to share fully in the Eucharistic banquet.  May the Holy Spirit help us to attain the unity for which our Lord prayed, so that his disciples may be one and the world may believe.  I gladly recall the decisive impulse given to developing closer relations and strengthening dialogue between our two Churches in recent years by Their Holinesses Vasken I and Karekin I, and by Saint John Paul II and by Benedict XVI.  As significant stages of this ecumenical engagement, I would mention: the commemoration of the Witnesses to the Faith in the twentieth century during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000; the consignment to Your Holiness of the relic of the Father of Christian Armenia, Saint Gregory the Illuminator, for the new Cathedral of Yerevan; the Joint Declaration of His Holiness John Paul II and Your Holiness, signed here in Holy Etchmiadzin; and the visits which Your Holiness has made to the Vatican for important events and commemorations.

Tragically, our world is marked by divisions and conflicts, as well as by grave forms of material and spiritual poverty, including the exploitation of persons, not least children and the elderly.  It expects from Christians a witness of mutual esteem and fraternal cooperation capable of revealing to every conscience the power and truth of Christ’s resurrection.  The patient and enduring commitment to full unity, the growth of joint initiatives and cooperation between all the Lord’s disciples in service to the common good: all these are like a radiant light in a dark night and a summons to experience even our differences in an attitude of charity and mutual understanding.  The spirit of ecumenism takes on an exemplary value also outside of the visible confines of the ecclesial community; it represents for everyone a forceful appeal to settle divergences with dialogue and appreciation for all that unites us.  It also prevents the exploitation and manipulation of faith, for it requires us to rediscover faith’s authentic roots, and to communicate, defend and spread truth with respect for the dignity of every human being and in ways that reveal the presence of the love and salvation we wish to spread.  In this way, we offer to the world – which so urgently needs it – a convincing witness that Christ is alive and at work, capable of opening new paths of reconciliation among the nations, civilizations and religions.  We offer a credible witness that God is love and mercy.

Dear brothers and sisters, when our actions are prompted by the power of Christ’s love, understanding and reciprocal esteem grow, a fruitful ecumenical journey becomes possible, and all people of goodwill, and society as a whole, are shown a concrete way to harmonize the conflicts that rend civil life and create divisions that prove hard to heal.  May Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through the intercession of Mary Most Holy, Saint Gregory the Illuminator, “pillar of light for the Holy Church of the Armenians”, and Saint Gregory of Narek, Doctor of the Church, bless all of you and the entire Armenian nation.  May he preserve you always in the faith you received from your ancestors, and to which you have borne glorious witness throughout the ages.

Interview of Shavarsh Kocharyan, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia to German newspaper “Die Tagespost”

Question: Armenia accepted Christianity in the year of 301 as the official religion of the kingdom and its people. How would you describe the role of Christian faith for the identity of Armenia today?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: Christianity should be viewed as a system of values, which forms the basis of modern-day democracy, rather than a mere religion. The fact of being the first to adopt the Christianity as its state religion back in 301 played a crucial role in the history of the Armenian people. As history testified, the Christian system of values became an integral part of the Armenian identity, and, amid suppression of external powers, the fight for preserving identity became a fight for the system of values and the Christian faith.

Question: During the history, Armenia has been threatened by superior adjacent powers most of the time. How has the Armenian national identity been able to survive?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: It will not be an exaggeration to compare all the nations of the world with the tip of iceberg. Numerous nations have become extinct, and first of all we mean not a physical extinction as itself, but rather the loss of identity and assimilation with other nations.

Despite numerous destructive campaigns and yoke of major powers, the Armenian people survived due to its struggle for the preservation of its identity based on Christian system of values.

Question: Is Armenia today again in a struggle of survival, provoked by Turkey and Azerbaijan – in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: Different Armenian states existed throughout its millennia-old history. However, for centuries the Armenians lacked statehood. In the 20th century, the Armenians were twice blessed with a unique opportunity to regain independence. The First Republic of Armenia, established in 1918, lasted just under 3 years and was then forcibly integrated into the Bolshevik Russia, as a federative unit.

Nagorno-Karabakh or Artsakh, mentioned as part of historic Armenia by ancient authors including Strabo, Plutarch, Pliny, Claudius Ptolemy, Dion Cassius and others, had all the attributes of sovereignty in 1918-1921 and was recognized by the League of Nations as a disputed territory. In 1921, by the decision of Bolshevik Communist Party’s Bureau, Nagorno-Karabakh was incorporated into the newly Sovietized Azerbaijan, in stark contrast to the will of the people of Artsakh.

In 1991, both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh held independence referendums in full compliance with the International Law and the Constitution of the still existing Soviet Union, which served as the bases for the establishment of modern-day Republic of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Following the collapse of the USSR, the two Armenian states have pursued a democratic path of developing their societies. Nagorno-Karabakh faces additional challenges of overcoming the consequences of Azerbaijani aggression unleashed against the self-determined Nagorno-Karabakh at the beginning of 1990s, the constant tensions maintained by Azerbaijan along the Line of Contact with Nagorno-Karabakh and the threat of resumption of military actions, as witnessed in early April this year.

Armenia will guarantee the security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh within its full capabilities in case of any military aggressive action against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic strives for international recognition, however, as of now, not a single state, including Armenia, de jure recognizes the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, not to undermine the ongoing negotiation process, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. One of the key elements of the process is the determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will of its people.

The barbaric acts committed by the detachments of the Azerbaijan Army during the recent aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh, i.e. the shelling of schools resulting in innocent children being killed and wounded, brutal torture, mutilation and murder of three elderly persons, including a 92 year old woman, the ISIL-style beheading of three captive soldiers of the Nagorno-Karabakh armed forces, as well as the awarding on the Presidential level of the perpetrators of such war crimes reveal the very fact why Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be part of Azerbaijan.

The President of Azerbaijan has started to present territorial claims to the Republic of Armenia, declaring that the territory of Armenia separates Turkey and Azerbaijan, and that the affiliation of those territories to Armenia is a historical injustice.

And when it comes to Turkey, it fully supports Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

Question: How contaminated is the relation between Armenia and Turkey: due to history and due to the partnership of Turkey and Azerbaijan?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: Two factors hinder the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia. The first is Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide, committed by the Ottoman Empire in 1915, and secondly, Turkey unilaterally closed the border with Armenia in support for Azerbaijan’s policy of blockading Armenia. Thus the Turkish-Armenian border is the only closed border in Europe.

By the initiative of Armenia and support of mediator states, Protocols on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey were drafted and signed in Zurich in 2009. The Protocols were aimed at a step-by-step normalization of relations between the two states without any preconditions. However, the Turkish authorities undermined the process of ratification of the Protocols, by putting forward preconditions related to the denial of Armenian Genocide and presenting pro-Azerbaijani claims with regard to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. As a result, Turkey, in support for Azerbaijan, continues the blockade of Armenia and by its statements encourages Azerbaijan to further toughen its already destructive position in the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process. In its turn Azerbaijan more fiercely denies the reality of Armenian Genocide committed in the Ottoman Empire. This is caused by the fact, that Azerbaijan is the inheritor of the Ottoman Empire’s genocidal policy against the Armenians, which was proven by the pogroms and ethnic cleansings against the Armenian population in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad and in other places, committed in response to the will of Nagorno-Karabakh people to exercise their right to self-determination.

Within this context, it is not a coincidence that the Head of Azerbaijan declares the Armenians of the world as his country’s number one enemy, and glorifies and rewards the criminals who killed Armenians, as was the case with murderers who axed an Armenian officer in his sleep during NATO-sponsored training seminar in Budapest and beheaded captive Armenian soldiers during the April aggression.
The ratification of the Armenian-Turkish Protocols, along with the refusal to deny the Armenian Genocide was testing Turkey’s actual readiness to integrate into Europe and adopt the European system of values. It is not a coincidence that failure in this test overlapped with Turkey’s backtracking from the European path.

Question: What does the Genocide mean for the identity of Armenians (in Armenia as well as in the diaspora) today?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: One and a half million Armenians became victims of the Armenian Genocide and hundred thousands of Armenians lost their homeland, spreading all over the world. And there is almost no Armenian who has not been affected by the Genocide. And the pain of Genocide grows deeper as we are still facing its denial.

The Armenian people, the survivor of the first Genocide of the 21st century, believes that the recognition and condemnation of genocides is not only an issue of restoration of justice towards the peoples who have undergone it, but also a necessity for the whole humanity, aimed at the prevention of possible genocides in the future.

It is not a coincidence, that Armenia initiated the Genocide Prevention Resolution adopted by consensus in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, co-sponsored by more than seven dozen states, and on the proposals of which the UNGA declared the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. The Resolution considers attempts of denial and justification of the crime of genocide as major obstacle to the steps on genocide prevention.

The Global Forum “Against the Crime of Genocide”, launched within the framework of the commemoration of the Centenary of the Armenian Genocide and held on a regular basis in Yerevan, serves the same purpose and has transformed into a platform for exchanging views on the issue between genocide scholars and representatives of different states.

The Armenian nation, a survivor of genocide, and a witness of new attempts to commit genocide, as well as of new strategies of its denial, is confident that today, just like a century ago, the issue of prevention of crimes against humanity remains an imperative.

Question: Russia seems to be the protective power of Armenia. But at the same time Moscow promotes the armament of Azerbaijan. What role does Russia play concerning peace and stability in this area?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: Let’s emphasize that Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh first and foremost rely on their own abilities in defense and security issues. At the same time, Armenia considers the deepening cooperation with various countries and international institutions as a restraining factor against the attempts to undermine the regional stability. Armenia’s military-political cooperation with Russia servers the same purpose.

Russia traditionally considers the South Caucasus as a zone of its influence and tries to pursue a balanced policy with other regional states, stemming from its own interests. Its balanced policy is also rooted in its involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process as one of the three OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

It was the mediation of Russia that produced the trilateral agreement on armistice between Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, signed in May, 1994, which serves as a basis for peaceful negotiation process under the aegis of OSCE Minsk Group. The ceasefire was violated this April by the aggression unleashed against Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan. And again, with the mediation of Russia a verbal agreement was reached on April 5 to restore the ceasefire regime of 1994.

Question: What do you expect Europe to do for stability and self-determination of the Armenians?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: The Republic of Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, two Armenian states self- determined in 1991, highly value the stance of European countries on settling the Nagorno-Karabakh issue exclusively through peaceful means, and on preserving peace and stability in our region. At the same time it is important for the international community to make targeted statements on the escalation of the situation in the region, considering that Azerbaijan perceives the tolerant statements based on European system of values as a carte blanche for its intolerant politics. This perception was behind the recent large-scale aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh with the use of heavy weaponry, artillery and air force.

Europe can have its input in preventing Azerbaijan from withholding the agreements reached on May 16 in Vienna between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Those agreements propose the implementation of OSCE supported mechanism for investigating ceasefire violations along the Line of Contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan and Armenian-Azerbaijani border, which will provide an opportunity to identify the initiator of each incident of ceasefire violation.

The implementation of this mechanism, as well as the expansion of the monitoring team of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-In-Office and enhancement of its capacities will contribute to the strengthening of the ceasefire and prevention of new hostilities, which can create necessary conditions for the effective implementation of the negotiation process.

Question: What do you wish and hope for Pope Francis’ visit to Armenia?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: The visit of Pope Francis to Armenia has a pan-Christian importance, as it is the visit to the first Christian country.

The enthusiasm with which Armenian people expect the visit of the Pontifex is caused by the fact that on April 12, last year, during the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the Catholic leader shared the pain of the Armenian nation and urged Turkey to face its history and pay tribute to the descendants of the Armenian Genocide.

This visit also creates an opportunity for our people in Armenia and Diaspora to express gratitude to Pope Francis for his principled stance on the Armenian Genocide, which was demonstrated before his election as a Pope.
At the same time, I avail myself of this opportunity to thank all the countries that recognized the Armenian Genocide and, specifically, Austria, the Parliament of which adopted a statement recognizing the Genocide on April 22, 2015, ahead of the Centenary.

Question: Could Pope, who will visit also Georgia and Azerbaijan in September, contribute to reconciliation between the neighboring powers?

Shavarsh Kocharyan: Despite all the attempts of Azerbaijan to add religious dimension to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the escalation of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, it is not the case. The essence of the issue is rooted in the right of the Nagorno-Karabakh people to self-determinate and decide their own destiny and future, and in the response of Azerbaijan manifested in violence, ethnic cleansings and large-scale war.

We believe that the Pope’s visit to Armenia and the upcoming visits to Georgia and Azerbaijan in September symbolize a message of tolerance and peace to the whole region.