Tert.am

Pan-Armenian Tour: Meetings with Turkish-Armenians Remains to be
Decided
11:43 ¢ 26.09.09

President of the Republic of Armenia Staff Deputy Head Vigen Sargsyan,
speaking with journalists yesterday, elaborated on the details and
purpose of the president’s `Pan-Armenian Tour.’

`The purpose of the president’s Pan-Armenian Tour is to meet and hear
Diasporan Armenians’ perspectives and opinions on such an important
issue such as the establishment of Armenian-Turkish relations. It is
the first time that the President of Armenia is conducting such a¦
pan-national tour whose purpose is to be in all those cities with
large Armenian populations where the Armenian Diaspora’s opinion is
developed. During the tour, the President of Armenia will visit the
cities of New York, Paris, Los Angeles, Beirut and Rostov-on-Don,
where regional meetings will take place,’ said Vigen Sargsyan.

Sargsyan noted that they don’t foresee having one-on-one meetings
during the tour. He stressed that the main and sole purpose of the
tour is to meet with the Diaspora, and, in fact, the president will
remain in each city for less than 24 hours. The only exception will be
Los Angeles, where other than meeting with Armenian community
representatives, the president will meet with journalists working for
Armenian TV stations in Los Angeles.

Sargsyan also added that invitations to participate in discussions
during the Pan-Armenian Tour have been extended to two groups:
pan-Armenian structures and prominent figures in the Diaspora.

Reponding to Tert.am’s question of whether the president foresses
meetings with the Armenian community in Turkey, Sargsyan said, `That’s
a good question, we’ll have to see, at this time it remains to be
decided.’