On February 1, a "Pro-Armenia" conference was held at the Senate Clemanso Palace in Paris, France. "Pro-Armenia" aims at promoting in the political circles of different countries the problems Armenia and the Armenians are facing.
The conference was organized by the:
- European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy,
- Armenian National Committee of America,
- Armenian National Committee of South America,
- Armenian National Committee of Moscow and
- Armenian National Committee of Middle East.
The conference was opened by Henry Papazian.
Laurent Leilekian, Executive Director of the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy of Europe, read out the message by Christian Poncelet, Speaker of the French Senate. Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia, who had arrived in Paris to take part in this conference, addressed the conference.
The chairman of the Armenian Parliament Armen Khachatrian called this conference a new fact of cooperation between all the parts of the Armenian nation.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian introduced the present situation in Armenia, speaking also about the relations with Turkey and confirmed the position to carry on the works aimed at recognizing the Armenian Genocide. ARF Bureau representative Hrant Markarian thanked the participants attaching great importance to the conference.
Louis Ayala, Secretary general of the Socialist International made a speech during the conference. "Social Democratic and socialist parties are not only with the ARF but also with the entire Armenian nation," said the leader of the largest socialist organization .
Discussions were held in three panels:
- "Armenia and the Armenian nation in the 21st century"
(coordinator: Armen Rustamian, ARF Armenia Supreme Body (SB) representative)
- "Integration of Armenia into the Caucasus economy within globalization,"
(coordinator: Vahram Nersisiants, aide to the Armenian President),
- "The Armenian question, the Genocide and the 21st century"
(coordinator: Ken Hachikian, Chairman of the Armenian National Committee of America).
Among those that took part in the above mentioned discussions were:
- Raul Alfonsin, former president of Argentina,
- Anastasios Papaligouras, head of the Greek Parliament delegation,
- Theodoros Pangalos, former Greek Foreign Minister, presently a Parliament member,
- Nikolay Rizhkov, Russian Parliament Member and former USSR Prime Minsiter,
- Artur Chilingarov, Vice-Speaker of the Russian Parliament,
- Fernando Morret, acting Defense Minister of Argentina,
- Francois Rochebloine, French Parliament member,
- Oleg Yesayan, Speaker of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Parliament,
- Yves Ternon, historian
- Tessa Hofmann, historian and sociologist
- Hamlet Movsisian and Melik Rstakian Georgian Parliament members
Armenians from about 20 countries including Russia, USA, Argentina, Lebanon, Cyprus, Greece, Georgia, Iran, Ukraine, Uruguay, Brazil as well as foreign political leaders and intellectuals who are interested in Armenian issues participated in the conference.
The conference brought together ministers, ambassadors, members of parliament as well as 80 public and political leaders from different Armenian communities.
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Conference for Armenia 