‘Shushi, the Pearl of the Caucasus’ conference held in France

On December 11-12, a two-day conference, “Shushi, the Pearl of the Caucasus” was held at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO) of France, organized at the initiative of the “Memorial” project.

Rev. Fr. Archimandrite Garegin Hambarzdumyan, Director of the Mission Department of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, conveyed to the attendees the blessings and appreciation of His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.
Afterwards, the Vice President of the French Senate, Pierre Ouzoulias, made welcome remarks.
The conference was attended by Rev. Fr. Archimandrite Grigor Khachatryan, Primate of the Armenian Diocese of France; Hasmik Tolmajyan, Armenian Ambassador to France; Charles Personnaz, Director of the French National Heritage Institute; and Armenian and foreign scientists, political, public and cultural figures.

During the conference, reports were presented on the preservation of the spiritual and cultural heritage of Shushi and Artsakh in general, and the ways of cooperation between Armenian and French figures in this direction were pointed out.

Rev. Fr. Archimandrite Garegin Hambardzumyan delivered a speech on the cultural heritage of Shushi and also presented documented evidence of the targeting of Armenian sanctuaries and the destruction of historical and cultural values by Azerbaijan and proposals for steps to be taken by the international community.