Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is in Italy on an official visit. The visit kicked off in the Mekhitarist Congregation, San Lazzaro Island, where he met with the Congregation’s spiritual leaders and representatives of the Armenian community of Venice.

Pontifical Delegate of the Mekhitarist Congregation, Prelate of the Armenian Catholic Church in Turkey Archbishop Levon Zekian welcomed Nikol Pashinyan on behalf of the Congregation and the Armenian community and wished him every success in his public activities.

Thankful for the warm welcome, Prime Minister Pashinyan said,
“Father Levon,
Dear compatriots,
Dear guests,

I am very glad for this opportunity. I want to once again emphasize that of course, the formal reason for visiting you is the flood, which has unfortunately caused significant damage to San Lazzaro Island and the Mekhitarist Congregation. But, of course, I would have definitely looked for an opportunity to come here, since I had never had such a possibility in the past. San Lazzaro Island and the Mekhitarist Congregation are of great historical and modern-time importance. I am confident that it will hold its important role in the future as well.

The scientific heritage created here, first of all as regards the Armenian studies, the Armenian language and our history, has actually laid the foundation for our modern science and education, and this is very important.

It is likewise important for us to assess at its true value this scientific temple, this spiritual center of paramount importance in terms of our ethnic identity, development and self-knowledge. I would like to state that the Congregation did not suffer irreparable damage: damage will be repaired, while we just need to move ahead. With all my heart, I wish every success to the Mekhitarist Congregation and, to our people, in general.

I want to note that a key point in the program of the political force that I represent, the “Civil Contract” Party, is the preservation and development of the Armenian identity. This is really very important for us, and I want to emphasize that very often by proclaiming glossy mottos we actually harm ourselves, go off the track and appear to be out of touch with our own history and our vision of the future. I consider that going in tune with our identity, our history, our past, and getting to know ourselves, in general, is one of the most important tasks of our government, because not knowing well ourselves means underestimating the potential that we have as a people and as a state .

Indeed, the most important task and objective behind developing our identity is in the future, and I am convinced that our national consolidation stems from the need to better know ourselves. In this regard, the Mekhitarist Congregation has played a very important role and will do so in the future as well.

I am confident that there is still much to explore here. It should also be the focus of attention of Armenia’s scientific community, and we should also think about future-oriented cooperation.”

Nikol Pashinyan said he was pleased to meet with the Armenian community of Venice, noting that his foreign visits always feature meetings with representatives of the Armenian community as part of his government’s vision.

“Our government has developed a national program in Stepanakert to substitute the mentality of fragmentation with a pan-Armenian idea, which means that we believe that as a state, the Republic of Armenia will be more efficient, more competitive and stronger if it acts not only as the representative of Armenian citizens, but also as the representative of the Armenian nation, as a whole,” the Head of Government said.

In his speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan referred to the idea of pan-Armenianism, noting: “Our ideology is that the Republic of Armenia is not only a state founded by the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, but that it is also a state founded by the Armenian people just as it is described in the introduction to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia: “The Republic of Armenia is the state of the Armenian people, the state of all Armenians, regardless of whether they have de jure citizenship of Armenia or not.”

Our efforts and objectives should be aimed at ensuring that all Armenians in the world have de jure Armenian citizenship and that the Republic of Armenia becomes the hub and the core of Armenian life, becomes the representative of the interests of Armenians across the globe, and all Armenians should act as representatives of the Republic of Armenia and as a citizen of the Republic of Armenia.”

According to Nikolai Pashinyan, there have always been disputes about national ideology in the history of the Third Republic. The Prime Minister noted that every Armenian should live with Armenia, regardless of whether he lives in Armenia or not as this is exactly what Pan-Armenianism implies.

Prime Minister Pashinyan noted that the Armenian government has the mandate to speak on behalf of the people of the Republic of Armenia, and any government in Armenia must have legitimacy to speak on behalf of the Armenian people; we must be a government of national agenda.

The Premier further said that during the days of the revolution he had been receiving many letters from Armenians living in different countries of the world in which they expressed their support and assistance to the revolution. This indicates that we witnessed an all-Armenian process in 2018 that led to radical changes in our country.

The Prime Minister next touched upon corruption and monopolies that existed before the revolution, noting that these phenomena led to a situation where Armenia is short of professional skills and quality in all areas. Now we need to mobilize the nationwide potential and focus on the development of the Motherland.

In response to a question about the ideology of national identity and relations between the Diaspora and the Homeland, Nikol Pashinyan pointed out that the government attaches great importance to cooperation with the Diaspora on many issues, but there is a problem with the participation of Diaspora representatives.

The Head of Government advised that he had instructed the Chief Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs to hold consultations with the widest possible circle of representatives of the Armenian Diaspora and submit proposals on the formation of a pan-Armenian structure.

Nikol Pashinyan also touched upon the issue of the longevity of Armenian statehood and emphasized that dependence on geopolitical factors should be minimized as much as possible, and for this we need a new national thinking, a new approach.

Later today Prime Minister Pashinyan will leave Venice for Milan where the Premier is due to meet with representatives of the Armenian community at S. Forty Martyrs’ (S. Qarasun Mankunq) Armenian apostolic church in Milan.

The Prime Minister will visit the Milan International Institute for Political Studies - the ISPI think tank, where he will meet with Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala. Then he will attend a discussion, referred to as “Dialogue on the Future.” Nikol Pashinyan will also meet with representatives of the Government of Lombardia, as well as with the business circles of Italy and will take part in the Armenian-Italian business forum.