ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
May 13, 2005 Friday 4:50 PM Eastern Time

Armenian public activist calls for broader relations with Israel

By Andrei Shirokov

TEL AVIV, May 13

President of the World Armenian Congress, Ara Abriamian who is also
president of the Union of Russian Armenians, has called for
developing all-round relations between Armenia and Israel.

He visited Israel as a member of an authoritative delegation led by
the spiritual leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos
Garegin II.

“The links between our countries go down millenniums deep into
history, but their current level is obviously insufficient and we
must develop them,” Abramian said.

“Armenia doesn’t even have an embassy here, and we must work in that
direction,” he said.

“Our delegation has 70 members, including Defense Minister Serge
Sarkissian, diplomats from the Foreign Ministry, President of the
Central Bank, Tigran Sarkissian, President of the National Academy of
Sciences, Fadei Sarkissian, business people, and arts professionals,”
Abramian said.

“After our trips here and visits to the holy places in Jerusalem, I
can tell you with confidence Armenia and Israel have a common share
of history,” he said.

“We have close ethnic and cultural traditions, which may form a basis
for developing bilateral relations,” Abramian said.

Israel’s chief Ashkenazi rabbi Yona Metzger gave an official lunch in
honor of Catholicos Garegin II, who said in a speech there the visit
marked the beginning of a broad dialogue between the two peoples and
creeds.

Had the international community recognized in due time the genocide
of the Armenian people that occurred 90 years ago, the tragedy of the
Jewish people during World War II could have been avoided, Garegin II
said.

“We’re praying to God for peace in the Holy Land these days,” he
said.

Metzger said on his part he had accepted Garegin II’s invitation to
visit Armenia shortly.

The Armenian delegation’s visit is an encouraging factor for
bilateral relations, said member of Knesset Yuri Stern, who also
chairs the Israel-Armenia interparliamentary association.

“Unfortunately, official relations between our two countries are
still in the phase of inception, but this visit sends a clear signal
for developing them,” Stern said.

He said he was pressing for Israel’s recognition of Armenian genocide
in 1915. This fact must be reflected both in school textbooks and the
texts of official documents of the State of Israel, Stern indicated.

“On the Armenian side, it is very important for Armenia to open an
embassy here and to develop broad economic and inter-parliamentary
relations with the Jewish state,” he said. “This moment is crucial,
as our economic relations are just beginning to take contours.”

Israeli MP Roman Bronfman, the chairman of the Democratic

Choice party, told Itar-Tass the Jewish and Armenian peoples each had
their own tragic experiences – the Armenians were subjected to
genocide of 1915 and the Jewish people went through the ordeal of
holocaust during World War II.

“The start of a dialogue between Israeli rabbis and the Armenian
Apostolic Church will lay a fair ground for a dialogue between the
two peoples and states,” Bronfman said.