Armenians from Iran, Italy hold conference on cultural cooperation

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenians from Iran and Italy held a conference with the aim to promote cultural cooperation between the two countries on Tuesday, April 12.

During the conference, attended Iran's ambassador to Rome, the speakers talked about the necessity of protection and reconstruction of Armenian holy sites.

Ambassador Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini, in his remarks, expounded on social life of Iranian Armenians and called them part of Iran's history and civilization and added that according to Iran's Constitution, the religious minorities have legal, cultural status and freedom of worship and Armenians have two deputies in Majlis (parliament).

He pointed out that Iranian Christians have 350 active churches, 122 of which are national cultural heritage and three have been registered as world heritage by the UNESCO.

The ambassador also reminded that during the attack of Saddam Hussein against Iran and the 8-year imposed war, Armenians along with their Muslim brothers fought against invaders and dedicated many martyrs to the homeland.

Director of Iran's historical churches world heritage site Sherli Avadian, for her part, said that with support of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, many of Armenian historical and cultural sites are being repaired.

Honorary representative of Italy's Armenian Professor Hacop Manokian, Head of Armenians' cultural documents and Research Center Dr. Minas Lurian and three other cultural scholars delivered speeches in the gathering, IRNA reported.