Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 24 2005
RV Investment to Propose Development of New Gold Mine to Azeri
Government
24/08/2005 08:40
RV Investment Services Grou? LLC is currently preparing proposals to
the Azerbaijani government on the development of a new gold mine
`Chovdar’ in Dashkasan, west Azerbaijan.
The company told Trend RV Investment was interested in the
development of gold-mine fields. Experts of the company visited the
field and estimate its perspective. In the near future the company
intends to come out with a concrete proposal to the government.
Last year appraisal work was carried out in the gold mine in
Dashkasan, and reserves of the field were included in the balance. As
a result of the appraisal reserves of the Chovdar field turned out
equal to all gold mines opened in Azerbaijan.
At present Azerbaijan has one contract with RV Investment on the
development of gold mines. In compliance with the contract, signed on
21 August 1997 between Azergizil State Concern (currently liquidated)
and R.V. Investment Group Services LLS (Azerbaijan holds 51% stake
and the United States – 49%), it is planned to develop 9 gold mines
of Azerbaijan with the initial reserves of 400 tons of gold, 2500
tons of silvers and 1.5 million tons of cooper. However, 3 fields are
currently under occupation of Armenia (Gizilbulag, Soyudlu and
Vejneli) in Zangilan and Kalbajar districts.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Aug 24 2005
Turkish FM Opens the Armenian Conference
* The disputed Armenian Conference at Bosporus University which was
postponed after the public reactions will be opened by Turkish
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. The Rector of the University has
invited FM Gul and he accepted the invitation.
Kemalcan YUREKLI (JTW) ISTANBUL – A conference on Armenians, which
was postponed due to sharp reactions in the media and the Turkish
public, has been rescheduled for September 23-25 at Bosporus
University in Istanbul. The preparation committee for the conference
has decided to limit its comments on the conference to strictly
official ones. Likewise, the Rector of Bosporus University, Doctor
Ayse Soysal, has said she does not want to say anything in advance of
the late September date. Interestingly the postponed Armenian
Conference will be opened by Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul’s
speech. The rector invited Gul to make opening ceremony of the
conference and FM and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul accepted the
invitation, Hurriyet reports.
“Ottoman Era Armenians During the Collapse of the Empire”
The conference, entitled “Ottoman Era Armenians During the Collapse
of the Empire: Intellectual Responsibility and Democratic Problems,”
was originally supposed to run between May 25-27.
The participants in the Armenian conference will include professors
from Bosporus and Sabanci Universities, as well as Turkish academics
from Turkey and around the world.
Lasting two days, with 12 sessions, and featuring the participation
of 38 academics, the conference will have panels like “Deportation
and Massacre,” “Disaster and Rescue Stories,” “Memories and
Witnessnes,” “Things the World Knew that Turkey did not Know.”
The Conference had been strictly critiqued by Cemil Cicek, Turkish
Minister of Justice, however Turkish prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan
publicly declared that he was against any postponement. Erdogan said
`anyone can make any conference in Turkey with no restriction’.
Bosporus University is a state university.
On the other hand Turkish media continue its critics about the
conference. Many Turkish historians also accused the organization
committee of not inviting the different approaches to the conference.
The Conference Committee did not invite the well known Turkish
historians and International relations expert on Armenian Studies to
the conference, including Pro. Mim Kemal Oke, Prof. Dr. Turkkaya
Ataov and Prof. Dr. Ilber Ortayli.
Dr. Nilgun Gulcan told the JTW that the conference confirms Turkey’s
democratic and balanced approach to the Armenian issue. `This kind of
conference cannot be made in Yerevan, California or Lyon (France).
Armenians, particularly those in the Diaspora, cannot make
self-criticism. They just accuse and they do not want to hear any
word different than their ideas (if not beliefs)’ she added.
`CONSTRUCTIVE’
Dr. Sedat Laciner, head of the Ankara based Turkish think-tank
International Strategic Research Organization (ISRO) welcomes Turkish
FM’s decision to join the Conference:
`We, Turks and Armenians, need each other. We first must learn how to
make dialogue. We should understand each other. The Conference
Committee made big mistakes. They invited the media stars, but not
real and well known historians and IR researchers. It is really
difficult to call this activity as scientific gathering. But I
appreciate the attempt. We need all kind of activities to start and
maintain Turkish-Armenian dialogue. Turkish FM Gul’s decision is
really constructive and should be applauded. I hope a similar
conference (a Turkish Conference) which is critical on the Armenian
policies will be organized in Yerevan and Armenian Foreign Minister
Oskanian could open such a conference. We should not focus on just
the past. We should not sacrifice today for the history.’
Dr. Davut Sahiner does not agree with Laciner and Gul and says `This
conference is not scientific and constructive. This is not a matter
of freedom. Bosphorus University is a state university and almost all
of the participants are pro-Armenian so-called researchers and media
stars. This is a show business. They try to manipulate Turkish mind.
If they can dare to make such a show in Armenia or in the US, I do
not oppose the conference. They cannot even use any word which
criticizes the Armenian stance. Armenian attitude towards the Turkish
people is `just listen, shut-up, and accept it’. It is unfortunate
that Turkey is the only side which is under attack.’
Armenians argue that the 1915 events was an organized genocide by the
Ottoman Government. Turkey has never accepted that the events were
genocide or massacre. According to the Turkish perspective the
Armenian extremists rioted to establish a separate state against the
Ottoman State when the Ottoman Empire was in First World War. Many
armed Armenians were killed in clashes with the Ottoman Army. When
the Russians attacked the Ottoman Territories the extremist Armenians
attacked the Ottoman Armies inside. Thus the Istanbul Government
decided to re-locate the Armenian population from the war theatre to
the Syrian province of the Empire. Many more were died due to the
famine and bad weather during the relocation campaign. Armenian
groups claim that more than 1 million Armenians died in the campaign
while the Turkish official documents show that the total Armenian
population was less than the claimed number of the dies. More than
520,000 Turkish and Kurdish villagers were massacred by the Armenian
militants during the First World War.

New York Times
Aug 24 2005
Hoping Music Is the Food of Peace, an Orchestra Plays On
By MELINE TOUMANI
Published: August 24, 2005
BATUMI, Georgia – Two years ago, Uwe Berkemer, a German conductor
working in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, had an idea that seemed
simple, even sweet: create a chamber orchestra with musicians from
all over the Caucasus, a region between the Black and Caspian Seas
that separates Europe from Asia and is home to ethnic groups that
speak more than 40 languages.
Meline Toumani
The Caucasian Chamber Orchestra, made up of musicians from all over
the Caucasus, at the Batumi Music Festival earlier this month.
The orchestra, he imagined, would demonstrate that music is a
unifying force. And it would symbolize the potential for peace among
groups that are engaged in intractable conflicts over land and
sovereignty: Russians and Chechens, Georgians and Abkhazians,
Armenians and Azerbaijanis, to name a few.
Inspired by the momentum for change in Georgia following the 2003
bloodless revolution that ousted the former Soviet republic’s
longtime leader, Eduard A. Shevardnadze, Mr. Berkemer set out on a
mission that mixed music and politics: his Caucasian Chamber
Orchestra would be a permanent, full-time performing group, based in
Tbilisi, bringing together the best musicians from Georgia, Armenia,
Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus areas of Russia. But when Mr.
Berkemer sought the support of cultural ministries in each country,
he discovered that not everyone agreed that music should transcend
ethnic disputes.
Georgia was quick to sign on. Armenia soon followed, despite rising
tensions between Georgians and ethnic Armenians living in Georgia’s
Javakheti region. But there was no word from Azerbaijan.
After five months and many earnest overtures from Mr. Berkemer,
European Union delegates and diplomats throughout the region, a
letter arrived. Azerbaijan’s minister of culture, Polad Bulbuloglu,
who had been a Soviet-era pop star, wrote that Azerbaijani musicians
would not participate. It would be inconceivable to place them
alongside Armenian musicians, he wrote, as long as Armenian forces
occupied the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Mr. Berkemer eventually hired five musicians from Armenia, ten from
Georgia and one from Dagestan, a Muslim-populated region of Russia
bordering Chechnya. A chamber orchestra should have 16 to 19
musicians, “so we are saving three seats” for the Azerbaijanis, he
said, “whenever they are ready to join us.”
The next problem for the orchestra was how to make a proper debut.
Mr. Berkemer and his staff decided to organize a festival in Batumi,
the capital of the Ajaria region, on the Black Sea.
Batumi looks peculiar even before an onlooker learns of its history:
thanks to its seaside location, tall palm trees line the streets, and
a mild, wet climate creates a relaxed, tropical feeling. But large
blocks of shabby Soviet-style apartment buildings loom over the beach
cafes, reminding visitors that this quiet resort town has been
through tumultuous changes in the last century, the last decade and
even in the last year.
Until a year ago, Aslan Abashidze, who ruled Ajaria for 13 years, ran
the region as though it were his private kingdom. When Georgia’s new
president, Mikhail Saakashvili, took power early last year, one of
his first moves was to assert national sovereignty over the region,
forcing Mr. Abashidze to flee the country.
According to Ajaria’s newly reinstated minister of culture, Alexandre
Gegenava, local cultural life was transformed. “For 13 years,
Abashidze controlled all performances to suit his own interests,” Mr.
Gegenava said. “Normal people could not attend concerts. It was
always just the same people: his ministers, his bodyguards and his
slaves. Everybody knew whose seat was whose.”
Mr. Gegenava, who also worked in cultural administration during the
Soviet era, said that he himself would not have been able to enter
the theater during the Abashidze years.
Learning of this detail rather late in the planning process, Mr.
Berkemer wondered whether his orchestra’s debut, and the Batumi Music
Festival over all, were doomed to echo in empty halls. Although the
town was papered with posters for the four-day festival and
advertisements ran in local media, just hours before show time Mr.
Berkemer called his festival “an experiment.”
Opening night was encouraging. The Batumi Theater, which seats about
500, was two-thirds full, and the diversity of the audience would
have been notable anywhere in the world: a mix of children; 20- and
30-year-olds; middle-aged and elderly guests; dignitaries from
Tbilisi, Germany and England; a local priest; and tanned tourists.
Skip to next paragraph

Forum: Classical Music
Mr. Berkemer led the orchestra through Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and
Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings. Marina Iashvili, a prominent
violin soloist of the Soviet era, performed with the group. The young
orchestra members – many of them fresh from conservatories in Tbilisi
and Yerevan, Armenia – beamed as the audience demanded four encores.
And in a move that won him many fans, Mr. Berkemer – standing out
with pale skin and white-blond hair in a room full of black-haired,
dark-eyed locals – sang an unofficial Georgian anthem, “Suliko.”
For a Saturday night “Concert for Peace,” Mr. Berkemer chose
Britten’s “Lachrymae” and Hindemith’s “Trauermusik” (“Funeral
Music”). He wanted to play Hindemith, he said, because the composer
had been exiled from Nazi Germany after Goebbels denounced him as an
“atonal noisemaker.” The composer’s experience as a refugee and the
melancholy quality of his composition, Mr. Berkemer said, lent
respect to Caucasian war victims, to whom the concert was dedicated.
Other festival events included late-night serenades in the candlelit
art museum by a vocal ensemble, Largo, which presented songs from
Chechnya, Ossetia and various regions in Georgia; and by the Batumi
State Vocal Ensemble, which performed in the characteristic Georgian
male a cappella tradition
Batumi residents seemed enthusiastic about the Caucasian Chamber
Orchestra, but retained mixed expectations for solutions to the
ethnic conflicts in the region. Giorgi Masalkin, a deputy in the
Ajaria Supreme Council and a professor of philosophy at Batumi State
University, described the situation in culinary terms.
Dolma, he said, is a simple dish of vegetables stuffed with meat and
rice. Every nation in the Caucasus region claims it as part of its
national cuisine. “If we can’t decide whose dish this is, how are we
going to decide who rules a whole territory?” he asked.
Mr. Masalkin had taken his young daughter to see the orchestra
perform. “I want her to see the similarities between people,” he
said. “Acknowledging what’s common between you and your neighbors is
50 percent of good relations.”

RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Czech Republic
Aug 24 2005
Armenian, Azerbaijani Ministers To Hold Karabakh Talks

Armenian Foreign Minister Oskanian (file photo)
(EPA)
24 August 2005 (RFE/RL) — The foreign ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan, Vardan Oskanian and Elmar Mamedyarov, are expected to
hold an official meeting today to discuss the dispute over the
separatist Nagorno-Karabakh territory.
The meeting is to be held in Moscow, where the two foreign ministers
on 23 August took part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
CIS leaders are due to meet starting on 26 August in the Volga River
city of Kazan.
The predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh pulled
away from Soviet Azerbaijan in 1988, triggering a war that killed an
estimated 35,000 people and drove tens of thousands of civilians from
their homes. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Armenia and Azerbaijan remain
technically at war over the territory.

Kommersant, Russia
Aug 24 2005
The “Color” Democracies are Left in the Cold
// Russia sets priorities for the CIS members
Yesterday, the session of the foreign ministers council of the
Confederation of Independent States (CIS) took place in Moscow. This
session was called in before the opening of the Confederation Summit,
which will start its work in Kazan on Friday. This session, as well
as the summit, according to the Kremlin design, should become a
turning point for CIS. The former Soviet republics learned that those
who would want to stay within the orbit of Russian influence would
keep all their economic privileges, including the opportunity to buy
energy resources for low prices. However, for the countries that
prefer to lean closer to the West, it was proposed to calculate the
consequences of their orientation.
The new Kremlin line toward the CIS was born as a result of the
analysis of the outcomes of “color” revolutions. Moscow realized that
the countries within the Confederation went so far apart that the
organization will be doomed to exist. The bright illustration of such
mood in Moscow was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement in
March in Yerevan during his joint press conference with Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan. Putin called CIS “a kind of civilized
divorce” of former Soviet republics. “The main goal of CIS was to
part softly after the USSR dismantling,” the Russian President said
in that time. Kremlin does not want to speed up this “parting,” but
it thinks that the Confederation split for two camps – pro-Russian
and pro-Western and needs to be reformed. And, according to the
Kremlin’s analysts, those countries that keep their Russian
orientation need to be protected from the West.
According to their evaluation, the West effectively changed
leadership in Georgia and Ukraine, and also pulled to the Western
side Moldavian President Vladimir Voronin. And the West does not
intend to stop there. It will try to develop its success pulling the
countries out of the Russian zone of influence one after another. The
Kremlin worries that the next victims of the “color” revolutions
inspired by the West would be Kazakhstan and Byelorussia, where
elections are coming soon. Another weak link is Uzbekistan. According
to Kommersant’s information, the “siloviki” in
Russian leadership insist that the final goal of the West is to
change the regime in Russia. According to them, the West would be
using the North caucus as “a source of instability and disintegration
of the Russian Federation.” To protect Russia from such a scenario,
the Kremlin decided to make a drastic turn in Moscow’s policy towards
CIS countries. The idea of the plan is to turn the economic influence
of Russia in post-Soviet space into the political influence.
Yesterday, a high ranking source in the Kremlin directly said to the
correspondent of the RIA “Novosti” that Moscow intends to drastically
change its policy to the CIS countries. Russia does not want to
“re-establish the Soviet Empire,” he said. However, the source said
that “Russia is not happy with the situation where it in fact
subsidizes the economy of several countries, supplying them the
energy resources for the prices that mean net loss for the Russian
economy. In the same time, some leaders also get paid salaries
directly or covertly from Americans.” (It is a clear hint for the
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.) The Kremlin source let
clearly be understood that the threat to stop the “subsidies of the
economics of regimes unfriendly to Russia” is not blackmail. “The
goal is to bring the relationship of Moscow with Washington and
European structures on the territory of former USSR to a civilized
manner,” he noted. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov further
developed this idea yesterday in the session of the ministers. He
underlined that it is time for the CIS countries to build their
relationship “based on the world practice.” In translation from the
diplomatic language, it means that several countries have to get
ready for Russia to gradually cancel all their economic and other
privileges, which they are still enjoying.
The agenda of yesterday’s session and coming summit was discussed in
advance through diplomatic channels. And the Russian intentions
caused a lot of worries in some capitals. It was not accidental that
the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Boris Tarasyuk was trying
to “dissolve” a little bit of the main agenda of both forums, when he
proposed to discuss issues of re-admission, borders demarcation,
creation of transport corridors for the energy resources, free trade
zones and measures of social protection for CIS citizens. However,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation rejected
the Ukrainian minister’s proposal on the grounds that the proposal
was submitted two weeks before the session and there is not enough
time to analyze that. Georgia also expressed some displeasure and
said that “it will participate only in discussion of some questions
and signing only some agreements.” In yesterday’s session Georgia was
represented by Deputy Foreign Minister, as well as some other
countries including Ukraine and Kazakhstan. In any case it was a
preliminary session. The main decisions would be made in Kazan.
Speaking about the results of yesterday’s session, Sergey Lavrov let
it be understood that there was no consensus of opinion reached on
the forum. According to him, Russia’s proposals to reform CIS “are
known for long time already, however nobody is talking in this case
about some collective decision product.” However, “nobody is totally
happy with what we have today.”
by Pavel Belov

National Assembly of RA (press release), Armenia
Aug 24 2005
Armenian-Austrian Relations at the New Stage of Development

On August 23 RA NA President Artur Baghdasaryan received Johannes
Sacks, the delegation of led by the President of Austria-Armenia
Inter-Governmental Committee. Heidamaria Gürer, Ambassador of Austria
to Armenia attended the meeting.
During the meeting the problems of deepening the Armenian-Austrian
political and economic r elations were discussed. Mr. Sacks noted
that the one of the most important results of the NA President’s
official visit to Austria is the meeting of Austria-Armenia
Intergovernmental committee, which was well organized and can
essentially expand the frames of economic cooperation. It was noted
that in future a seminar dedicated to the issue of investments in
Vienna, where the investment legislation of Armenia will be presented
and economic daily improving opportunities, and it can become a good
chance for the entrance of the Austrian investors to Armenia, as well
as for the Armenian investors to Austria, so also for entering to the
market of the European Union. It was noted that already there is a
programme in connection with the development of the zone of
Tsaghkaszor as a resort place and athletes’ training.
Attaching great importance to the development of the
Armenian-Austrian political and trade-economic,
scientific-educational relations, RA NA Artur Baghdasaryan expressed
his gratitude to the Government of Austria for the implentation of
the economic programmes in Armenia and expressed readiness to promote
the fulfillment of the inter-state agreements.
During the meeting the good work of the `Austrian Airlines’ was
highlighted, which is one of the most functioning air bridges that
connects Armenia to the big world.

Pravda, Russia
Aug 24 2005
Russian, Armenian, Azerbaijanian foreign ministers’ meeting for
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict discussion
10:51 2005-08-24
The foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan were slated
to meet in Moscow on Wednesday for discussions of the conflict over
the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave and a planned meeting this week between
the two Caucasus nations’ presidents, the Interfax news agency
reported.
“Negotiations have intensified noticeably over the past six months,”
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov was quoted as saying
Tuesday, referring to talks on Nagorno-Karabakh that have been
mediated by Russia, the United States and France, AP reports.
The bloodshed began after the legislature of the ethnic
Armenian-dominated enclave in Azerbaijan called in 1988 for the
region to be incorporated into Armenia, which like Azerbaijan was
then still a Soviet republic. Full-scale military offensives broke
out in 1991; thousands were killed and a million displaced.
A tense cease-fire has held since 1994 but efforts to finally resolve
Nagorno-Karabakh’s status have repeatedly failed.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian and his Azerbaijani counterpart
Ilham Aliev are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of a summit of the
Commonwealth of Independent States in Russia’s Volga River city of
Kazan on Friday, Interfax said.

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA
—————————————— —-
PRESS AND INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
375010 Telephone: +37410. 544041 ext 202
Fax: +37410. 562543
Email: [email protected]:
PRESS RELEASE
23-08-2005
Regular Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth of
Independent States
On August 23, a regular session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of
the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) took place in Moscow under the
presidency of Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov.
Foreign Affairs Minister Vartan Oskanian headed the Armenian delegation to
the session.
The session’s agenda focused mainly on the preparation and adoption of
several documents to be presented during the CIS Summit to be held in Kazan,
Tatarstan on August 26.
The key themes of the agenda were issues relating to enhancing the
efficiency and improvement of the activities of Commonwealth bodies, draft
statements of heads of CIS states on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of
the UN and the Agreement for Humanitarian Cooperation of the Commonwealth of
Independent States.
The Foreign Affairs Ministers considered a decision to declare 2006, the
Year of the Commonwealth of Independent States and an appeal by the CIS
Heads of States to the people of the member states and international
community on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the accident at the
Chernobyl Electric Power Station.
Within the context of UN reforms, the Council of Foreign Ministers stressed
the importance of having inclusive reforms and their endorsement by the
majority of UN member states.
In the same evening, an unofficial meeting of the Co-chairs of the OSCE
Minsk group and Foreign Affairs Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan took
place.
A regular meeting between the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the two countries
on Nagorno-Karabagh conflict resolution is scheduled for August 25 in
Moscow.

AZG Armenian Daily #149, 24/08/2005
Home
‘PEOPLE ARE WELL AWARE OF OUR POLITICAL FIGURES’, ARTUR BAGHDASARIAN SAYS
Artur Baghdasarian, chairman of RA National Assembly, paid a working visit
to Vanadzor, on August 20. He met with the residents of the city at the
Vanadzor State Theater. They came to meet him and share their problems with
him. The Vanadzor people were concerned about such issues as the payment of
pensions, the salary raises, the prices for healthcare services, the
necessity to open school for aesthetic education for the children and many
other issues. Naturally, they were mostly concerned about launching
“Prometey” plant. Artur Baghdasarian also emphasized the importance of fully
launching this chemical plant, as in that case, that would be possible and
necessary to open a series of other relative plants. But Mr. Baghdasarian
said that the state isn’t capable of sponsoring its activities, at present.
The residents of the city were also concerned about issues of local and
personal character. They inquired from Mr. Baghdasarian about the order of
electing the mayor of Yerevan, as well. They expressed the idea that the
elections should be direct. Mr. Baghdasarian assured that the relevant
constitutional amendments do not envisage indirect elections only, but in
this case, the increase of the board’s members secures fair elections.
Vanadzor residents also inquired why the representatives of the opposition
hold aggressive speeches, while the coalition members seem to be refrain
from them. Artur Baghdasarian emphasized that the society has already
recognized the aggressive speakers and all the rest, adding that they are
well aware of the political figures of our country. Mr. Baghdasarian advised
to vote for the people who are really concerned about the bright future of
our country.
By Nana Petrosian

PRESS RELEASE
Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Information Services
Address: Vagharshapat, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Rev. Fr. Ktrij Devejian
Tel: (374 10) 517 163
Fax: (374 10) 517 301
E-Mail: [email protected]
August 23, 2005
His Holiness Karekin II Receives DNC Chairman Howard Dean
On Saturday, August 20, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and
Catholicos of All Armenians, received Howard Dean, Chairman of the
Democratic National Committee (United States) and former presidential
candidate. Mr. Dean was accompanied by Armenian Revolutionary
Federation-Dashnaktsutyun Bureau Member Vicken Hovsepian and other ARF
members.
His Holiness welcomed Mr. Dean and his delegation to the Mother See of Holy
Etchmiadzin and presented the guests with an overview of the mission of the
Armenian Church in the homeland and in the Diaspora. Reflecting on the
Armenian Church in America, His Holiness expressed his joy at the vibrant
Armenian community there and in the active role they play in the political,
economic and social life of the United States. The Pontiff of All Armenians
stated his contentment that the children of the Armenian nation, immigrants
and descendants of genocide survivors, are worthy and contributing citizens
of the United States.
Mr. Dean informed His Holiness of the purpose of his visit to Armenia, and
the two engaged in an active discussion regarding the challenges facing the
Republic of Armenia, including the eventual integration of Armenia into the
European Union, the illegal blockade of Armenia by Turkey, the importance of
universal recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and the
desire of the Armenian people to see the Nagorno Karabagh conflict resolved
in a peaceful and just manner.
At the end of the meeting, His Holiness offered a prayer asking for God’s
blessings to descend upon the Republic of Armenia and the United States.