RA DEPUTY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ARTAK APITONYAN TO DELIVER A LECTURE AT YSU

The theme of the lecture delivered by Mr. Apitonyan was “Armenia and Middle East countries in international organizations”.

Students, alumni, representatives of the teaching staff were present at the meeting.



Those present were greeted by the Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies Ruben Melkonyan who noted that such actions make it possible to create a dialogue between generations and exchange experience.

He introduced the biography of Artak Apitonyan outlining his diplomatic achievements.

In his greeting speech Artak Apitonyan he felt more responsible in his Alma Mater. According to him, Oriental Studies is not just an academic institution for him, it is the environment where due to the efforts of the founders of the faculty they build the outlook of Armenian intellectual youth, form important features on the level of interpersonal relationship.



As the speaker outlined, Armenia is not only in the junction of cultures but in the crossroad of ideologies as well, and in this aspect it is very important to have the overlook they instill at the faculty.

Presenting the theme of the lecture, Artak Apitonyan explained that under international organizations we should understand intergovernmental level.

“After the Independence, when the RA was developing its foreign policy, the approaches were based on the principle of balance. We supported hard security and adopted a moderate, balanced approach”, said Artak Apitonyan.

According to him, we adopted progressive values: human rights defense, democracy, dominance of law. And they are reflected in the foreign policy as well.



As regards economic development Armenia adopted the southern approach which is closer to developing countries and UNO approaches. Mr. Apitonyan also noted that the Middle East countries are very different and have various approaches.

The first problem of Armenia in the international organizations was with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (formerly, Islamic Conference). It had a significant influence on the relationship of Armenia with the Middle East countries. That organization was the first to adopt resolution against Armenia in April, 1993 in Pakistan, The resolution was adopted after the activities of Karvachar liberation. Artak Apitonyan told that the diplomatic corps was struggling for years and is still struggling to make changes in the OIC resolution.

He also referred to the results of the voting related to the Nagorno-Karabakh showing via a diagram that in the course of time the number of countries supporting Azerbaijan decreased and the number of those who keep neutrality has increased.

The list of co-authors of the Resolution of the Genocide Prevention, which in 2015 involved even Djibouti was outstanding.

Referring to other international organizations he outlined manuscript studies trainings organized in cooperation with the UNESCO for Syrians and Iraqis in the Matenadaran.



The participation of Armenia in the Ancient Civilizations Forum is an achievement as well. Other members of the Forum are Greece, China, Bolivia, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Italy and Peru. It should be noted the membership of other countries in the Forum is possible only via consensus between member countries. This Forum aims at creating a dialogue between the members and a platform for cultural cooperation.

Mr. Apitonyan also presented that Armenia is the initiator of cooperation development between the EEU and the Iran, Egypt, Israel.



The lecture was followed by the Q&A. At the end of the event Professor Ruben Melkonyan thanked the speaker and continued the tradition of the faculty presenting him with the university manual entitled “History of the Republic of Turkey”.