Raffi Hovhannisyan's speech at ICAPP 6th General Assembly

On December 3, 2010, Armenian first Foreign Minister Raffi Hovhannisyan, currently leader of the opposition Heritage party, delivered a speech at the sixth General Assembly of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties.
The full text of the speech is available below.

Madam Chairwoman, Distinguished Colleagues:

It is my distinct pleasure to represent the Republic of Armenia in its first official participation in the International Conference of Asian Political Parties. This tenth-anniversary convocation is an opportune threshold for Armenia, our ancient Christian nation blessed recently with renewed sovereign statehood, a source at once of Western civilization and of Eastern tradition, to join the family of ICAPP delegates.

We seek together a better tomorrow for Asia and the world beyond. The compelling interventions that have been offered over the course of this auspicious meeting have duly outlined the global security, environmental, socioeconomic and human challenges of the third millennium. In our collective quest to safeguard equal educational, employment, healthcare and developmental opportunities for all, it is imperative not only to underscore the precepts of state sovereignty and national interests but also the abiding respect for the fundamental dignity, rights and empowerment of each and every man and woman in national societies and international affairs.

In this connection and as the grandson of survivors of the Great Genocide and National Dispossession of the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish government, I pay tribute to its victims as well as those of the Holocaust, the Cambodian Genocide and all other crimes against humanity. Reconciliation must in all cases be anchored in truth, justice and a liberating redemption. I congratulate the Cambodian people on the recent, long-belated conviction of a senior Khmer Rouge officer on the charge of perpetration of genocide.

On genocide and denialism, we say NEVER AGAIN. They have no legitimate place at ICAPP and among mankind.

Most unfortunately, the presentation you are about to witness by the delegate from Azerbaijan, whose regime differs little from the dictator Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge, promises to give you a living example of attempted genocide, and then its denial, and then the abuse of august forums such as this to spread partisan propaganda and so to blame the victims themselves. I am sure this is nothing new for many of you here who are the survivors of colonization and genocide, occupation and oppression.

And you above all know—and have earned through your suffering—the true value of truth, justice and liberty. The freedom-loving people of Mountainous Karabagh (Artsakh) have learned the same lessons and now await the world’s de jure recognition of the identity they have preserved and the independence they have achieved in the great Eurasian space.
From this faith no one can shake us.