NEXT DESTINATION AMSTERDAM

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR)
09 Nov 04

Landing at the island of Saint Lazarus, Venice, the crew of the Armenian ship
â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~] making its maiden voyage continued their pilgrimage on the
land.
Their visit to Artsakh was even more important in this context. Besides the top
officials of NKR the staff of Artsakh State University also had the
opportunity to meet with the crew of the ship. On November 4 the crew of the
â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~]
visited the University. The full hall proved that many of the staff of the
university kept track of the voyage of the â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~]. The fact that
famous
writer and publicist Zory Balayan was also member of the crew promised that the
talk was going to be interesting. After the meeting we had a talk with Zory
Balayan. â~@~S Why especially â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~]? â~@~S Because among the
Armenian states sea had
vital importance only for the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia. The kingdom had a
fleet, prospering port towns. The aim of this undertaking was to revive the
tradition of our ancestors. Being highlanders they were not afraid of the sea.
The ship â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~] is the exact reproduction of the ships of that time.
This
undertaking is not unique. Representatives of many other nationalities have
tried to recall the techniques of the past and repeat what their ancestors did
in
the past. It is also an original way of paying tribute to them. â~@~S What was
the mission of the â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~]? â~@~S We made our voyage under the flags
of the
Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Nagorni Karabakh. The very fact can
underlie the mission of â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~]. With only 85 square metres of surface
â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~]
is a bit of the homeland which visited its children spread all over the world.
This was especially a great joy for those whose age and health do not allow
them to visit Armenia at east once. All the Armenians irrespective of their
belief, party affiliation, see their homeland in â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~]. On the other
hand,
it turned out that by this voyage we assumed another mission as well. The
survey conducted among the youth revealed that unfortunately 90 per cent of our
young people is not only unaware but also indifferent towards their own history.
We hope that the voyage of the â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~] will have a positive effect in
the
sense that it will increase their interest in our historical past. Partly this
aim will also be pursued by the â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~] and my work entitled
â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~]
where I will include information on the history of Cilicia. â~@~S Such an
undertaking
must have a continuation. â~@~S I think it will. We have already talked to RA
president Robert Kocharian about it and we have returned to him the tricolor
under which the â~@~Kilikiaâ~@~] sailed. We have also talked to the RA prime
minister
and Catholicos of All Armenians. We have the plan of the voyage which will start
from the island of Saint Lazarus, and the destination will be Amsterdam.

NORAIR HOVSEPIAN.
09-11-2004

–Boundary_(ID_i64ppxPoOt0pFeji1wO6Rg)–