On April 22, a presentation celebrating the release of Vartan Oskanian’s new book entitled, Speaking to be Heard: A Decade of Speeches, took place in Mr. Oskanian’s birthplace, Aleppo, Syria. The event was organized by the Syrian chapter of the AGBU together with the Armenian Youth Association. Representatives of all local organizations offered their comments. The keynote presentation on the book was made by Rev. Haroutioun Selimian, who reflected on the evolution of Armenia’s foreign policy as reflected in 10 years of the former foreign minister’s speeches.
Salpi Ghazarian, the book’s editor and the director of Civilitas, spoke about the impact of thoughtful, well-delivered, consistent messages on the international community and showed a short DVD of speech excerpts.
Vartan Oskanian spoke about his reasons for preparing the book. He acknowledged that the first book event in Aleppo is not coincidental and added that during his 10 years of service as Armenia’s foreign minister, he always felt the genuine support of the Armenian diaspora, especially that of the diaspora of his hometown, Aleppo.
On April 26, a second book presentation took place in Beirut, sponsored by the Aztag Daily Newspaper and the Hamazkaine Vahe Setian publishers. Aztag Editor Shahan Kandaharian analyzed the 10 years of diplomatic history presented through Mr. Oskanian’s speeches. The heads of Beirut’s various Armenian community organizations also presented their comments as did the President of Haigazian University, the venue of the event. Following Salpi Ghazarian’s brief comments, Mr. Oskanian spoke about various issues of importance that he has tackled in the past ten years, including the international recognition of the Armenian genocide, the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and working on improved relations with the diaspora. Although the book is a collection of his speeches, amassed during ten years of service as foreign minister, he said he hopes that it can also serve as a record of the domestic issues and concerns of the decade. Through the speeches, he reflects on various issues such as human rights, electoral processes, democracy, and internal problems that Armenia was facing at the time of each international gathering. Many things have been left unfinished in this sphere, as a result, Mr. Oskanian hopes that the new, current chapter of his life’s work, will allow for opportunities to continue to work in the same direction. Thus, the Armenian title of the book – Incomplete Decade.