On Friday, 23 December 2022, at the Catholicosate of Antelias, at the invitation of Catholicos Aram I, representatives of the supreme bodies of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party (ADL) — Aleksan Keshkerian, Dr. Mkrtich Mkrtichian and Dr. Avetis Dagesian — convened a consultative meeting. Also present were the co-chairmen of the National Central Board of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, Stepan Der Bedrosian and Krikor Mahseredjian.
His Holiness the Catholicos presented his statement to the international press regarding the closure of the corridor connecting Artsakh to Armenia by the Azerbaijanis, and the contacts he had established in that direction within inter-ecclesiastical and inter-religious circles, as well as the expressions of condemnation and the diplomatic efforts made by the aforementioned circles. His Holiness the Catholicos also touched upon his telephone communications with the President of Artsakh and the State Minister, the instructions given to the prelates of the dioceses of the Catholicosate, and other efforts, emphasising the imperative of expressing our protest collectively in the diaspora and of conveying to the international community the particularly grave humanitarian consequences of the closure of the Berdzor corridor and the necessity of its speedy reopening.
His Holiness the Catholicos then addressed a call for the importance of defining a collective stance, raising a voice of condemnation and demanding the speedy reopening of the corridor, with a pan-diasporan scope and with the participation of all communities, parties, bodies and the sons of our people. In this context, His Holiness the Catholicos underscored the important role of the three parties.
The participants, taking the floor, welcomed the efforts made by His Holiness the Catholicos and shared his concerns and viewpoints, stressing the urgent necessity of organising in all diaspora colonies through pan-Armenian effort and inter-party cooperation, and of expressing our collective protest through effective means and an approach appropriate to the surroundings of the colonies.
