WASHINGTON–The Chairman of the Committee for Research in Armeno-Kurdish Relations–Henry D. Astarjian–M.D. delivered an address before the Kurdish Parliament-in-Exile on April 12 in Brussels–Belgium.
Other officials invited to speak before the Parliament were Marc Philips–Member of the British Parliament; Hugo Van Rompay–Member of the Parliament of Belgium–and; Lode Van Oost–Member of the South African Parliament and the representative of South African President Nelson Mandela.
Speaker from Greece were Panayatos Ziguradis–Deputy Speaker of the Greek Parliament and Kostas Beduas–Member of the Greek Parliament and a former minister of the Greek Government. Cyprus was represented by Averof Neophitou and Yianikis Thoma–both members of the Cypriot Parliament.
Speakers from Russia were Nikoforenko Jori–Geopolitics Committee Chairman of the Russian Duma; Bautchenof Evgueni–Member of the Duma Geopolitics Committee; Mitrohn Sergev–Member of the Duma from the Democrat Party–and; Mironov Oleg–Member of the Duma from the Communist Party.
The Committee for Research on Armeno-Kurdish Relations is dedicated to the study of the historical and contemporary relationships between Kurds and Armenia’s. The Committee fosters broad-based appreciation of the Armenia and Kurdish cultures and national aspirations–and seeks to promote greater understanding of the geo-political environment of the region they occupy.
Dr. Astarjian–a medical neurologist by profession–is a frequent contributor to Armenian and Kurdish scholarly publications and a frequent speaker at Kurdish and Armenian conferences throughout the world. He has traveled extensively throughout Kurdistan and is conversant in the region’s major languages–including several dialects of Kurdish–Armenian–Turkish and Arabic.