ARMENIAN REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE PROTECTION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES

Strasbourg Conference 9-10^th October 2008

The Representative of the Armenian Community in the Cyprus Parliament Mr. Vartkes Mahdessian, received an official invitation from the Secretariat General of the Council of Europe and the Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, which was celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, to participate in the conference under the theme Enhancing the impact of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: past experience, present achievements and future challenges which was held on 9^th and 10^th October 2008 in Strasbourg. Mr. Mahdessian was the only Religious Minority Group Representative from Cyprus to take part in this conference.

An important component of this conference was the participation of NGOs, who had carried out important work on the promotion and strengthening of the implementation of the Framework Convention during the past decade and also, in drafting of the Declaration. The aim and the purpose of the conference was to officially present the final declaration, which will contain specific recommendations for a variety of stakeholders involved with the Framework Convention such as the Advisory Committee, the Council of Ministers, CoE Member states, as well as civil society organizations.

Thursday 9^th October 2008
During the drawing up of the final Declaration on the Framework Convention for the protection of National Minorities, the paragraph which summoned the late 19^th and the first half of the 20^th century historic facts, such as the two World Wars, the Holocaust, the Cold War, etc. Mr. Mahdessian intervened and referred to the Armenian Genocide of 1915, which was missing from the list. There were strong reactions from some participants but at the end, the conference accepted his suggestion and added the word Genocides after the Holocaust.

Under a different topic, Mr. Mahdessian referred to the problems and obstacles that the members of the Armenian Community in Cyprus face such as the Army issue, securing governmental and semi-governmental jobs, difficulties of Armenian law graduates, who have to sit for further complicated Greek exams in order to be able to practice their profession in Cyprus etc.

The second part of Thursday's agenda was dedicated to the review and possible improvements of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

Late afternoon of the same day, Mr. Mahdessian visited the exhibition National Minorities, Breath of Diversity, Breath of Europe dedicated to the 10^th Anniversary of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, where the Armenian Representative had a look at the works of the talented Cypriot Armenian artist Tatiana Ferahian.

Friday 10^th October 2008
On Friday 10^th October, 3 workshops took place and the participants were divided into 3 groups.-

• Workshop I.- The Impact-Assessment of the Framework Convention in the State Parties
• Workshop II- Use of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and its monitoring results by the Council of Europe, Human Rights and other International mechanisms
• Workshop III-Discuss effective participation and possible topics for future thematic work of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention

In the afternoon, a plenary session and a Roundtable discussion was held to review the findings of the three Workshops and conclude the Impact-Assessment of the Framework convention.

As per Mr. Mahdessian's evaluation, the conference was productive and his participation as the Representative of the Armenian Community in Cyprus an honor. His impressions were quite positive and in the coming years he hopes to see improvements implemented regarding the rights of National Minorities.