By IRNA,
Venice : Armenians from Iran and Italy held a conference with the aim of developing cultural cooperation between the two countries here on Tuesday.
In the conference, in which Iran’s ambassador to Rome was present too, the speakers talked about necessity of protection and repairs of Armenian holy sites.
Ambassador Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini, in his remarks, expounded on social life of Iranian Armenians and called them part of Iran’s history and civilization and added that according to Iran’s Constitution, the religious minorities have legal, cultural status and freedom of worship and Armenians have two deputies in Majlis (parliament).
He pointed out that Iranian Christians have 350 active churches, 122 of which are national cultural heritage and three have been registered as world heritage in the UNESCO.
The ambassador also reminded that during the attack of Saddam Hussein against Iran and the 8-year imposed war, Armenians along with their Muslim brothers fought against invaders and dedicated many martyrs to the homeland.
Director of Iran’s historical churches world heritage site Sherli Avadian, also for her part, said that with support of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handi Crafts and Tourism Organization, many of Armenian historical and cultural sites are being repaired.
Honorary representative of Italy’s Armenian Professor Hacop Manokian, Head of Armenians’ cultural documents and Research Center Dr. Minas Lurian and three other cultural scholars delivered speeches in the gathering.
Armenians’ Cultural Documents and Research Center was founded in 1967 in Venice, Italy and the founders were a number of Iranian Armenian personalities.