Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Terens Quick made the following statement after the Greece-Cyprus-Armenia Trilateral meeting on Diaspora issues, which was held in Yerevan:
“The actions of our Trilateral cooperation will be based on the pillars of Diaspora youth and well-known members of our Diasporas throughout the world, to the benefit of our nations and our overseas communities. I am thoroughly convinced that this important endeavour we are launching will have the full support and assistance of diaspora communities the world over.”
This was the second Trilateral meeting on diaspora cooperation between the three countries; cooperation that is the result of an initiative on the part of Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Kotzias, in consultation with his Cypriot and Armenian counterparts. Diaspora issues were among the subjects of the talks and meeting held last Wednesday, in Athens, between the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs and his Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian.
The Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Terens Quick, the Cypriot Commissioner for Overseas Cypriots, Fotis Fotiou, and the Armenian Diaspora Minister, Hranush Hakobyan, set the agenda of actions for 2018; actions that will take place in the three countries’ capitals and in countries with large Armenian communities, such as France and the U.S.
On the recommendation of its General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad, Greece proposes the hosting of a photo exhibit in Thessaloniki on the subject of the Armenian and Pontic Genocides, in parallel with cultural events supported by the corresponding organizations in each country. Moreover, in Komotini, where there is a large Armenian community, a meeting of top university students of the three countries’ Diaspora communities will be held, with the aim of developing inter-university links among the Greek, Cypriot and Armenian Diasporas. In this regard, the Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed: “I am certain that we will be assisted in these two actions by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with its new Chair of Pontic Studies, and the Democritus University of Thrace, as well as by the Municipalities of the two cities, in parallel, of course, with the local organizations of the Pontians, Armenians and Cypriots.”
The Trilateral meeting culminated in a meeting with Armenian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Garen Nazaryan and a visit by the heads of the three countries’ delegations to Patriarch Karenin II of Armenia.
The next meeting will take place in March, in Greece.
December 15, 2017