At RA President Armen Sarkissian’s suggestion, the Presidency hosted today a meeting with participation of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, National Assembly Speaker Ara Babloyan, First Deputy Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and Public Council Chairman Vazgen Manukyan.

The meeting discussed the internal political situation in the country. The participants expressed their concerns and issued a joint appeal, urging the nation to set aside all controversies and pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide on April 24.

At the beginning of the meeting, President Armen Sarkissian said:

Your Holiness, Honorable President of Artsakh, Mr. Prime Minister, dear colleagues, thank you for accepting my invitation for this meeting.

Tomorrow is April 24, a sacred day for our people. The day has been celebrated for over 100 years as the commemoration of the victims of the Armenian Genocide and the day of our national tragedy. But the past few days were hot, there are rallies in different parts of the country; the city of Yerevan is in trouble.

While these are largely peaceful demonstrations, nevertheless, this tense situation is also highly explosive. Each of us has already appealed to the nation, the authorities, and the police in a bid to maintain peace and order, ensure peaceful demonstrations and peaceful response to them. However, tomorrow is April 24, and each one of us should understand and appreciate the sensitivity and the importance of the moment.

It is a day when the Armenians, irrespective of their political opinions, cannot endanger the commemorations of that sacred day.

Therefore, I have asked to gather, call on all our compatriots in Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora so that we all respect the memory of our victims on April 24, the day when the Armenians do not have the right to hurt one another, the day when even a single drop of blood should not be shed, the day when the whole world shall be watching us. If we fail to unite on April 24, irrespective of all our differences, our history, our people and we all will suffer huge losses.

Therefore, I have invited you for a meeting in order to call on all our compatriots living abroad and in Homeland to put aside our differences and political opinions at least for one day, to come together on this sacred day for the sake of our national struggle. After that, perhaps on April 25, we will be back to solving our problems which, as I have stated several times, have one solution: dialogue and negotiations,” President Armen Sargsyan said.

“I think that not only each of us, but every Armenian should make every effort to ensure that never a shadow is cast on April 24 and any following day. Therefore, we will do our best to pay tribute to our martyrs on that day,” Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan said.

“I believe that April 24 is a sacred and cherished day for all the sons of our people. For many decades, we have been heading for the Memorial to Armenian Genocide Victims in Tsitsernakaberd with prayers, bowing our heads to their memory.

Tomorrow, I am also convinced that every child of my nation will be brought to the memorial and will respect his sense of responsibility, alertness and self-esteem, bring his humility, intercession of the sincere ones, so that our homeland continues to make a normal life and make our nation safer. life, stable, strong, stable, Armenian statehood.

And this wish, this prayer should be cherished for every Armenian who will sound from the height of Tsitsernakaberd,’ His Holiness Karekin II said.

“Honorable Mr. President,

The people of Artsakh and I welcome your initiative. I am more than convinced that our people will appreciate this initiative and will display appropriate attitude,” Artsakh President Bako Sahakyan said.

“Honorable Mr. Presidents,
Dear Prime Minister,
Your Holiness,
Dear Colleagues,

I want to tell you in a little detail that yesterday, after returning from abroad, I immediately went to see Sasun Mikayelyan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Nikol Pashinyan. My first appeal was about observing April 24 as the day of our unity, our most sacred day, and we all need to be together. I suggested that right from today, we start a process, sit down at the table of negotiations in order to clarify the detail, the real goals and expectations for everyone, for the people, because what we are doing, we are doing for our people.

Earlier today, I met with a member of Exit faction and asked to urge his colleagues to join the table of negotiations and stop the ongoing rallies so that we could calm down without any pressure and agree upon a roadmap to find a solution. That is to say, we should advance this idea from now on,” National Assembly Chairman Ara Babloyan said.

“Honorable Mr. President,

There is no alternative to what is associated with April 24, and I do not think that any Armenian may disagree with what you said. I welcome the National Assembly Speaker’s initiative, which reaffirms that all disagreements, all problems should be set aside in order to properly hold the planned commemorations on that day. The next day we will try to find solutions,’ Public Council Chairman Vazgen Manukyan pointed out.

“Thank you Mr. President,

I am convinced that the proposal will be appreciated by our people. It is an extremely important day and we have a problem once again to demonstrate to the world that we, Armenians, can sit down and come to a logical arrangement on our goals and counter-objectives. This is a must. And I am confident that we will find a solution,” First Deputy Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said.

President Armen Sarkissian thanked the participants for expressing their opinions and supporting his proposal. At the end of the meeting, First Deputy Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan made a statement for mass media outlets.

“Today we have made a decision, and I have appealed to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia to withdraw the motion on the arrested members of National Assembly. Now, I am going to meet with Mr. Pashinyan in order to negotiate and find a solution.

Tomorrow is an extremely important day, and I think that we will be sober and smart enough to show to the world that no matter how complicated the problems are; we can sit down and find a logical solution.”