ARAM I DOES NOT AGREE WITH KOCHARYAN
A1+
[03:49 pm] 18 September, 2006
Of all the speeches during the opening of the Conference
Armenia-Diaspora, that of His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the
Great House of Cilicia differed radically from the speech of Robert
Kocharyan. The speech of His Holiness was the only one which was
greeted with long applause, and if Vardan Oskanyan didn’t interrupt
them in order to announce the name of the following speaker, they
would last still longer.
Aram I mentioned that the past two conferences were mainly emotional
and did not have clear-cut basis and voiced hope that this one will
not have the same fate.
In contrast to Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, Aram I put
the stress on self-criticism mentioning that the cooperation between
Armenia and the Diaspora must serve the welfare and development of
the people.
The Catholicos was concerned by the fact that official Armenia
speaks about the economic growth in the country while they look for
the sources of the growth and its reflection on the living standards
throughout the whole country. "If there is real growth, why don’t we
feel it equally on the living standards of the people?" The Catholicos
thinks that neither the Armenian structure nor the Diaspora represent
clear-cut programs.
He also mentioned that suchlike conferences are important only if there
is mutual trust between the sides which is an important factor for the
deep development of the links between Armenia and the Diaspora. As for
expecting investments from the Diaspora, the Catholicos is convinced
that the Diaspora can give much more, but it also depends on the
Armenian authorities and on how they solve the problems of the country.