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STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. VARTAN OSKANIAN
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF ARMENIA
AT THE 34TH SESSION OF THE UNESCO GENERAL CONFERENCE
17 October 2007

Mr. President,

UNESCO provides the platform where humanity’s global challenges are
addressed among equals, placing responsibility on each of us to pursue
international cooperation in this organization’s fields of competence –
education, science, culture and communication and information. These are the
areas of human knowledge which are essential for deep and successful
globalization, fair and equitable globalization, will lead to sustainable
development and poverty eradication. Our hope, of course, is that this is
the path to prosperity and peace.

That is why we have welcomed UNESCO’s intention to expand its activities in
Armenia. Armenia’s high economic growth and positive macroeconomic state
have led to the alleviation of some of the more obvious social and economic
ills. I have repeatedly said that our second generation reforms will be the
more difficult, the more challenging to adopt and implement and this
category includes the essential but difficult reforms in education and
science, culture and communication.

In a country with a proud and ancient record of education and science, we
are deep in the throes of reforms. With the Bologna measures as guide, our
students are prepared to undergo yet another period of transition – this
time to ease their entry into the international educational arena.

The science community too is undergoing restructuring to facilitate their
integration into international scientific cooperation programs. The vibrancy
and competitiveness of these fields are essential for their own sake, as
well as for economic and social advancement.

But dear colleagues, UNESCO’s calling card is its commitment to the World’s
Cultural Heritage – the concept and the content. Armenia attaches great
importance to the organization’s efforts to develop legal instruments aimed
at the protection of the cultural heritage of humanity.

We are diplomats immersed in the world of culture, education and science.
Diplomats and people of the arts and culture are both the beneficiaries of
dialogue, and perhaps because of that, we feel compelled to continually
search for non-traditional ways to approach the overarching issue of our
time: living at peace in a pluralist world. Diplomats and cultural workers,
like the societies which we represent, live in neighborhoods that are not
going to change, with memories that are not going to go away, and with
experiences that are irreversible. Therefore, we look for ways to break the
barriers of the past because we remain convinced that between cultures and
countries, there must be dialogue and understanding.

Mr. President,

As a people, serving as the perennial buffer between empires, on the most
trampled path on earth, Armenians have become living witnesses of the
benefit of dialogue between and within cultures. We have been engaged in
that international exchange for ages. Today, we in Armenia are among its
greatest promoters, especially in our neighborhood.

Today, Armenia is a cosponsor of the Draft Resolution on "Proclamation of an
international year for bringing cultures together" that will hopefully be
adopted by the current session of the General Conference.

The UNESCO focus on "Demonstrating the importance of exchange and dialogue
among cultures to social cohesion and reconciliation to develop a culture of
peace" and "Sustainably protecting and enhancing cultural heritage" is
welcome. But this sounds hollow if we only do so when it’s easy to do. When
it’s easy, cultural heritage is protected and exchange and dialogue do take
place on their own. When it is hard, undesirable and hopeless, that is when
UNESCO, its instruments, its clout, its ability and willingness to speak in
the name of all mankind, that is when UNESCO is needed.

Mr. President,

Armenia appreciates and respects the historical-cultural heritage of
national minorities, which are within its territory. The destruction of
timeless monuments in the Soviet period – monuments belonging to all
religions, not just our ancient Christian churches and monasteries, but also
mosques — cannot be undone. We can only take pride in what we have and
protect and preserve them. In fact, the Cemetery of Riataza, belonging to
Armenia’s Yezidi non-Christian minority, Armenian sites on the Great Silk
Road and Yerevan’s exquisite, recently restored Blue Mosque are on the
waiting list for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

In our region, borders have changed frequently and peoples have moved and
been moved repeatedly. Armenia’s ancient civilization has established
settlements, left behind traces of living communities — fountains and
bridges, churches and massive religious and artistic sculptures. The fate of
those monuments is important for their own sake, for the sake of artists and
historians, but even more so, for the sake of a world that must remember its
history, must remember the legacy of peoples who have come and gone.

Our interest therefore in the world’s cultural heritage is not just
philosophical. It is very much personal. Our history is indeed intertwined
with the history of our neighbors, with their history. We are dismayed at
attempts to ignore this history. We are appalled at attempts to undo this
history.

We are not the only ones who have said from this podium that the destruction
of a people’s patrimony is tantamount to destroying their memory, their
history, their identity. Unfortunately, we have neighbors who have built
today’s identity on a less than real history. And we see the trauma and
instability that results.

Once again, we urge UNESCO to send monitors to our region, specifically to
Nakhijevan, to see and appropriately judge the intentional destruction in
areas far removed from war and confrontation.

Mr. President,
Prosperity and peace, that is that goal of all UN agencies. In UNESCO, we
have a better chance of achieving our objectives because our fields of
interest are those that cross borders and frontiers naturally, across
differences and distances and across histories and memories.
Thank you.