SYDNEY and MELBOURNE: The International Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee, Giro Manoyan was the keynote guest at a Sydney Panel Discussion and Melbourne Lecture, entitled "Taking Stock: Armenia and Artsakh Today".
The events, part of the Armenian National Committee of Australia's (ANC Australia) Advocacy Week, sought to shed light on key political, social and security issues currently facing Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, as well as discussing the path to just recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
There were over 100 attending Manoyan's Melbourne lecture at the Armenian Community Centre, where he took extensive questions on his topics of expertise.
At the Sydney Panel Discussion, which was jointly organised by the Armenian Youth Federation of Australia (AYF Australia) and ANC Australia, Manoyan was joined on the Panel by
former ANC Australia Executive Director and current Columnist, Varant Meguerditchian, current ANC Australia Executive Director, Vache Kahramanian, and Chairman of Armenia Media Inc., Kaylar Michaelian.
There was consensus on the Panel on several topics, including the positive impact on Armenia of the rise of civil society activism, Organisation, mainly led by the nation's youth. The Panel saw said activism as a reason for a decrease in State corruption.
The Panel said Armenia's choice to join the Eurasian Economic Union, at the expense of more positive ties with the West, was probably the right political move, but they did criticise the process. They also saw this as no reason Armenia should not adopt Western cultural values.
All members of the Panel felt Armenia should immediately withdraw its signature from the flawed Turkey-Armenia Protocols.
Discussing Artsakh, the Panelists praised the Armenian Armed Forces for thwarting recent Azeri attacks, and all saw great benefits in legislative bodies (local, state and federal) recognising the rights to self-determination of the people of Nagorno Karabakh.
On just resolution of the Armenian Genocide, panelists praised recent movements away from "recognition" to "reparations", and sighted the recently-published book by Geoffrey Robertson (An Inconvenient Genocide) as a positive step. In discussing reparations, panellists felt everything needs to be on the table, and negotiations must ensure Armenia ends up a more viable nation.
