The First General Assembly of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Civil Peace Platform was held in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 30.

Participants of the First General Assembly of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Civil Peace Platform appealed to Pope Francis.

“As a religious figure, you have dedicated your entire life to the promotion of ideas of peace and compassion among the people and the mankind. After you have been elected in Holy See, your activity has grown in size and efficiency. Your constant recalling at the meetings with public officials of the fact that each of the children of Adam is the God’s masterpiece regardless of their religion, race, gender, or nationality, contributes to the making our world more peaceful and humane,” said the participants in their message.  

“As you know, there are still facts of aggression, war, occupation, forced evictions of people from their homes in different parts of the world. The destructive ideas that fuel the hatred of some people towards their fellow men, the myths used by the certain forces still stand firmly. These war seeds have been also sown among the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples who have been friends and neighbors for centuries, sharing the same cultural accomplishments,” reads the message.

“For more than 25 years, the two neighboring nations are forced to live in a state of war. During this time, representatives of both nations act towards each other as victims of hostility and hatred. Young soldiers who face the ceasefire of formal character, and the civil population living near the front line are being killed. The recent rising tense military situation had to destroy all hopes for the reconciliation of the two neighboring nations and their coexistence based on just peace. However, regardless all the difficulties, civil society representatives and journalists who didn’t lose their hopes and believed in the peace took the peaceful initiative. These people established the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform on December 6, 2016. Since its foundation, it attracts civil society members, public policy figures and media representatives to the peace building process, they promote these ideas in both societies, and despite all the difficulties, they are confident in their work. All these activities allow us to effectively institutionalize for the sake of more effective results as the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform,” says the message.

“On behalf of the participants of the General Assembly, we ask you to bless our sacred duty and for your support to the soonest settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the returning of people to their homes and ending the 25-years long hostility between the two neighboring nations,” reads the message.