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On September 30 the delegation led by RA NA President Hovik Abrahamyan left Bern for Geneva, where a meeting with the Armenian community of Switzerland was scheduled.
About 4500 Armenians live in Switzerland, and some part of them are the generations of Armenians, who survived the 1915 Genocide and found shelter in Switzerland, another part came from Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and resettled here.
In Geneva the members of the delegation of the National Assembly of Armenia visited the Armenian Church and the Armenian center, where they had a meeting with the representatives of the Armenian community of Switzerland. The NA President left a note in the Book of Honorable Guests.
The delegation led by RA NA President Hovik Abrahamyan took part in the reception dedicated to the 19th anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Armenia. Hovik Abrahamyan delivered a speech.
“Dear Mr. Ambassador,
Dear Father,
Dear representatives of the Swiss Armenian community,
Dear compatriots,
First of all, let me warmly greet you and congratulate everybody on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of the independence of our Motherland, the Republic of Armenia.
19 years ago, proclaiming independence by referendum, the Armenian people founded the third republic. With that step we implemented the behest of our ancestors, and we confirmed our united will of building free and independent statehood. The reaffirmation of the Armenian independent statehood was the result of the rise of unity of the Armenian people’s national rebirth.
It is really a pleasure and honour for me to meet with the representatives of Switzerland's Armenian community, who are always willing to personally get familiarized with the problems of Armenia’s development and the implementation of the Armenian people’s national goals.
The Swiss-Armenian community is one of the consolidated communities of Diaspora, which is distinguished by the high level of self-organization. And it is not at all accidental that the relatively small by number Swiss Armenian community is really able to do big works. The vivid evidence of what was said is the current level of the Armenian-Swiss relations, as well as the fact of recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Switzerland. Everybody knows this, and this is certainly inspiring.
The problem of the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is on the political agenda of Armenia and one of the most important problems of the widely spread Armenians, which will become the basis and guarantee of excluding the repetition of the “Genocide” tragedy. On that basis shall be laid down the stones of the civilized wall to be built against the genocide phenomenon. And the first stone is the condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and its prosecution.
The Swiss Armenians laid down that stone for the sake of the European and all-human civilization.
The firmness of that stone is the will of the Swiss Armenians.
The society of Switzerland has never been indifferent towards the Armenians’ problems. In 1894-96 after the Armenians’ killings in Turkey the public circles of Switzerland applied to the government of the country, demanding to condemn the Armenians’ killings and complain the Ottoman Empire. In March 1897 the government of Switzerland discussed the application and made a statement qualifying the Armenians’ killings in the Ottoman Empire as a crime against mankind. Thus, one shall consider logical that by the adopted decision on December 16, 2003, the Swiss Parliament recognized the Armenian Genocide.
And today on the agenda the next stone is the struggle against the terrible phenomenon of xenophobia, Armenophobia. In the neighbouring Azerbaijan the xenophobia and racism daily take toot, being displayed in the form of Armenophobia. In that country a whole generation gets raised up with such spirit. The Armenophobia becomes a mentality, and its spreading is a state policy. This is a danger that shall be neutralized in the whole world that shall be broken, colliding the Armenians’ firm wall. Here all of us have things to do, and I am sure that the Swiss Armenians in this matter will show its strength and consolidation. This is today’s front of our struggle in the fair solution of Artsakh problem.
It’s ceasefire in Artsakh but it does not mean that the war ended. Ceasefire is not still peace. Armenia and Karabakh has never begun war and they will not begin it, but everybody realizes that we shall be ready for war, if the others want it. And Armenia cannot close an eye on the bellicose announcements sounding all the time from the neighbouring country.
Today, the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh is an established state. Despite all objective and artificial difficulties, hard experiences, Artsakh is having progress, is establishing state democratic institutes, is developing its economy and culture, is defending peace. This is a reality with which Azerbaijan simply cannot but take it into consideration.
And the negotiations around the peaceful settlement continue within the OSCE Minsk Group. Despite the regular convulsions of the Azerbaijani side, the steps impeding the normal procedure of the process, which are expressed by initiating senseless documents in different international instances, the Armenian side led by the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, has adopted constructive, essential and consecutive style of working.
There are no such two neighbouring peoples, who will not have historical contradictions, disagreements, from which most of them are not solved. But such challenges have a path of civilized solution, and that path is the dialogue. Armenia has always acted within the framework of this logic, and it has the right to expect the same from its neighbours.
Armenia was guided by just this same logic, when the President Sargsyan initiated the process of improving the relations with Turkey, to which unfortunately, Turkey was not ready. We showed to the whole world our principality, acting only from the constructive positions, however, Turkey continued to act agreed: on the contrary to the principle of “without preconditions.” The Armenian side suspended the process of the protocols’ ratification and announced that it would observe the issue only in case, when it saw necessary willingness from the Turkish side.
Dear compatriots,
Today, we are proudly looking at the 19-year history of our country. It is a history of won war, overcome crisis, the establishment of the new type of economy, creation of the institutes characteristic to the modern crisis, a developing social-political environment, which marks a big path of rise. That history has also registration of numerous difficulties: blockade, poverty, corruption, violated rights and homeless families, which drives forward everybody. But, first of all, it is a history of faith that all the problems will be solved with united forces. Consolidation and unity are, first of all, necessary for our people.
The experience of the Swiss Armenians witnesses that the respect and credit earned by the Armenians in the European countries, after all are also spread on Armenia, and the rise of Armenia’s international prestige as a state, can also be spread on our compatriots living in those countries. The good fame of both Armenia and Armenian Diaspora is a big capital, the maintenance and increase of which requires daily work, and its fruit shall be saved.
Most of the people envy Armenia that it has Diaspora, collective kinsmen, so much dedicated to the historical Motherland, with patriotic big drive and having a huge mental potential spread all over the world. You are also Armenia’s pride, and we shall work in a way that Armenia will become the object of our pride, not only as a Motherland, but also as a dynamically developing state. In that case even the Armenian, who left his/her roots in Europe and everywhere, will proudly say that he/she is Armenian, is the inheritor of the big and powerful culture, and has a strong and prosperous motherland.
Armenia is everybody’s motherland, and the Diaspora and the Motherland are mutually strong with each other. This shall be the slogan of our people, and this is the pledge of our successes.
I am proposing to toast to the strengthening of friendship between Armenia and Switzerland, the Armenians becoming powerful and the implementation of the Armenians’ national desires.
Long Live the Republic of Armenia!
Glory to the Armenian people.”
