Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Armenian community representatives at the Shota Rustaveli Theater in Tbilisi. The meeting was attended by numerous representatives of the Armenian community not only from Tbilisi, but also from Samtskhe-Javakheti.
Welcoming those present, Nikol Pashinyan reminded that he made his first foreign visit to Georgia after taking office as prime minister. “I have kept fond recollections of our meeting in the courtyard of the Armenian Church in Tbilisi. The meeting in Samtskhe-Javakheti was also unforgettable. During that visit, I suggested building our relationships according to a new formula: Georgia and the Georgian people should be confident that Armenia and the Armenian people will never participate in any anti-Georgian conspiracy, have no negative attitude towards Georgia and the Georgian people. On the contrary, we are keen to see a well-developed and stable country. According to this formula, Armenia and the Armenian people should be sure that Georgia and the Georgian people will never be involved in any anti-Armenian conspiracy, and on the contrary, they are interested to see that the Republic of Armenia is a developed country,” the Prime Minister said.
According to Nikol Pashinyan, over the past year and a half, the Armenian-Georgian relations stemmed from this very formula. The Prime Minister emphasized that the atmosphere between the two countries is exceptionally good, and, according to Nikol Pashinyan, our bilateral relations have never been better than now.
“This creates new opportunities for Armenia and Georgia. Our next proposal is that we should consider our relations from the perspective of centuries in a way to have a common understanding, since we have lived side by side in this region for millennia,” the Prime Minister said, noting that one can hardly find such neighboring nations that boast a thousand-year history and no hostilities. The Premier underscored that this is an important factor which needs emphasizing. Nikol Pashinyan noted that the two peoples have faced numerous challenges throughout history and were forced to confront them together, so it would be good if the two states considered their future from this point of view.
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During the meeting, the Prime Minister especially welcomed the Armenians of Tbilisi. “Many giants of our culture and identity were born and used to live in Tbilisi. It is difficult to say what our identity would be like, if it were not for the great cultural heritage generated in Tbilisi. In general, our modern identity has three pillars, large cultural pillars – Tumanyan, Tamanyan and Komitas. I think that Tumanyan, in fact, is the most vivid example of the Armenian genius in Georgia, which reflects the importance of Tbilisi-domiciled Armenians for our people,” Nikol Pashinyan said.
The Prime Minister once again thanked the Georgian authorities for their thoughtfulness of the Armenian heritage on Georgia. According to Nikol Pashinyan, this is another key factor behind modern Armenian-Georgian relations. “We are united by Christianity and the Christian heritage. We must do everything possible to ensure that our relations have a strategic content,” the Prime Minister said.
Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that one of the most important features of our current activity should be that today we are creating a future in which our generations will live fifty, one hundred years later.
“From now on, the Armenian statehood must exist on planet Earth forever; we should rule out the emergence of any such power as may put an end to the history of Armenian statehood. Armenia is not only the birthplace of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, but also that of all Armenians, regardless of their citizenship. We are eager to see that the Georgian Armenians are full-fledged responsible citizens of Georgia, since this is one of the most important prerequisites for the normal development of our relations. We also believe that the attitude of Armenia towards those living outside of Armenia, and vice versa, should change; it should be more constructive, more strategic. That is why we have placed the idea of pan-Armenianism at the heart of our policy. The all-Armenian potential can guarantee the existence of an independent and powerful Armenian state. We, the Armenians, have the potential to take control of our fate. We nee d to have as many friends in the world as possible and do everything to bring our friends closer to us. Therefore, the main task in building the Armenian-Georgian relations is to make them more reliable just as between strategic partners. And I assure you that we are confidently following this path,” Prime Minister Pashinyan said.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister and the members of his delegation answered the questions of interest to Georgian Armenians, which bore on bilateral relations, repatriation, economy, the new government’s personnel policy, as well as on the anti-corruption campaign and other issues of topical interest.
INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME-MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA