The President of the Republic of Armenia Armen Sarkissian and Mrs. Nune Sarkissian, who are in the State of Israel on a working visit, today visited the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, where they were hosted by the Speaker of the Knesset Juli Edelstein and Mrs. Irina Nevzlin.
Welcoming the President of Armenia, the Speaker of the Knesset in particular noted: “It is a great honor for us to receive you in our country. We are happy for your visit, even if it happens during a less-than-joyful event.” Juli Edelstein expressed confidence that President Sarkissian’s visit, as well as the opening of an embassy in Israel, will be an important cornerstone for further development of bilateral relations. “I think this visit will bring a very positive change in our relations. The potential of our partnership is much more than we currently use,” the Israeli Knesset Speaker said.
President Sarkissian noted that he was at the beginning of establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. “To be honest, I have wanted to return to Israel for years because I have memories of this country,” the Armenian President said, highlighting Israel’s experience in various fields, including high technology, innovation, and exchange of experience.
Referring to such pages of history, President Sarkissian said that the similarities between the fates of the two peoples are impressive, and they prompt us to think about the future; “We can jointly create that future as two states and as two peoples. Armenia is a small country, but a world nation, so is Israel. I am also here to identify areas of cooperation. Armenia attaches great importance to the development of many fields: education, science, security, agriculture, modern technologies. As president, I have an initiative to make Armenia a new technology hub, as we have a number of advantages to doing so. There are high quality physicists, mathematicians in our country; we have good educational programs in the field of programming.”
Noting that many pages of history are tragic for the Armenian and Jewish people, President Sarkissian said efforts should be made to prevent such humanitarian catastrophes from happening again and never be repeated. The Armenian President has raised the issue of recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Israeli Knesset, stressing that recognition and condemnation of this shameful page of history should not be conditioned by today’s political interests and realities. “Recognition of the Armenian Genocide is first of all a moral responsibility and a tribute to the memory of innocent victims, while it is an important contribution to the international efforts to prevent genocides and crimes against humanity,” the Armenian President stressed.
At the end of the visit, the President of Armenia made a note in the guestbook. Later, President Sarkissian and Mrs. Nune Sarkissian had a tour in the building of the parliament.
