1 / 4

On June 25-30, in the capital of Greece, Athens the twenty-fifth anniversary of the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy was held on the theme “Parliamentary Democracy and Christian values: 25 years of Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (IAO) on Orthodoxy.” The RA NA delegation comprised of the Head of the delegation Artashes Geghamyan and Vardan Ghukasyan took part in the works of the Assembly.

The President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopios Pavlopoulos received the participants of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in the President’s Palace, welcoming and congratulating them on the occasion of the twenty-fifth Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.

The opening ceremony of the Assembly began with the welcoming remarks of the President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopios Pavlopoulos, Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament Nikolaos Voutsis, the Deputy Chairperson of the Russian State Duma Irina Yarovaya and His Beatitude Ieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece.

In his speech the Head of the RA NA delegation Artashes Geghamyan conveyed the Address of the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, where it particularly read:

“Honourable President of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy,

Honourable Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy,

Honourable participants and guests of the 25th General Assembly,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I congratulate you on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Assembly.

In this anniversary year we can state with certainty that over its quarter-century history the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy has implemented its tasks set forth in the statutory texts of the Assembly. It is difficult to not estimate the activity of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly aimed at the maintaining and developing the role and place of the orthodox culture in the modern world, deepening the interfaith dialogue, overcoming the manifestations of extreme nationalistic and interreligious differences.

In particular, I would like to stress the IAO role in the process of the establishment of a unique platform of cooperation for parliamentarians from different countries, unified by Christian values, common approaches to the issues of the defense of rights and religious freedoms of Christians, promotion of peace policy.

Dear friends, I wish you successful and fruitful work for the benefit of all the peoples of the member states of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.”

On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy on behalf of the President of the RA National Assembly Artashes Geghamyan handed to the Organisation the Diploma of Honour for strengthening the inter-parliamentary ties, human rights and freedoms, preservation of the national and all-human values, as well as pro-Armenian activities.

At June 26 Meeting, the Head of the RA NA delegation Artashes Geghamyan was elected member of the Executive Body of the Organisation – the International Secretariat by the Assembly.

During the Session in his speech Artashes Geghamyan touched upon the current geo-political situation, the tension existing in the South Caucasus, raising the issue of the tension growing day by day, quoting the bellicose announcements presenting openly call to war by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and calling on “to prevent the developing war in the region, restrain Azerbaijan and Turkey backing it.”