Exclusive: President of Chamber of Representatives of Uruguay on strong ties with Armenia, boosting partnership

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. President of the Chamber of Representatives of Uruguay, Ana Olivera, has reiterated her country’s support and friendship with Armenia, with whom it has traditional warm ties.

In an interview conducted on August 31, when Olivera was in Armenia on an official visit, she told Armenpress that all items concerning Armenia are voted unanimously in the Uruguayan parliament regardless of who’s in power in Uruguay.

Olivera spoke about the Armenia-Uruguay friendly relationship, the goals and agenda of her trip, various areas of cooperation, as well as Uruguay’s position regarding the developments in the South Caucasus.

Armenia and Uruguay have always had friendly and warm relations. How would you assess the current level of relations between the two countries?

- First of all, thank you very much for the invitation. Secondly, I think that throughout the history of our relations, the connection between Uruguay and Armenia has always been a connection of solidarity and brotherhood, and it continues. The whole world remembers that Uruguay became the first country in the world to recognize the Armenian Genocide in 1965. However, I believe that Uruguay's actions did not end there, because the case was not limited to only recognition; immediately after that, Uruguay participated in international work, seeking support for the region. At the same time, these relations have deepened over the years.

This year, all political parties unanimously approved a bill in the Uruguayan House of Representatives, according to which all radio and television stations in Uruguay must broadcast a statement commemorating the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide every year with the slogan "Never Again".

Every year, the person presiding in the Chamber of Deputies issues a statement on April 24, and the ceremony is attended by state bodies, representatives of all political parties and the Armenian community.

The relations between Armenia and Uruguay have become even more active, as Uruguay now has an embassy in Armenia, and Armenia has opened an embassy in Uruguay.

Last year, the President of Armenia visited Uruguay, this year the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia paid a visit. When the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia invited me to visit Armenia, I thought it was just a protocol formality, but later I received the written invitation. After that, the ambassador of Armenia in Uruguay came to me and said: let's set the day of the visit.

How would you assess the Armenian-Uruguayan interparliamentary relations in particular?

- The Armenian-Uruguayan interparliamentary relations are very close too. The Uruguay-Armenia inter-parliamentary friendship group is very active. In addition, I must also say that in the case of Uruguay, we have an Armenian community that has significant role in the life of the country, and also has a place in the legislature. Yesterday I had two different meetings with the friendship group of parliamentarians of Uruguay and Armenia. We hope that those who have not visited Uruguay will do so. Our delegation also includes the Deputy Speaker of the Uruguayan Parliament, Pedro Jisdonian, who is Armenian and is also a member of the friendship group. I would like to mention one more thing. In Uruguay, all issues related to Armenia were voted unanimously in the country's parliament without any other opinion. The Armenian Genocide commemoration ceremony, which took place on April 23, was attended by the President of Uruguay and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, among others.

I represent the opposition, however I think I express the feelings of the entire political community and people of Uruguay. Meaning, I have fulfilled my role as President of the Chamber.

- You have been on an official visit to Armenia for two days now. Please tell us more about the goal of the visit and its agenda.

-The goal is first of all the strengthening of the ties between our countries. But I think that in addition to all that, it is important to talk about recent events, to talk about what happened in September of last year, to talk about Artsakh. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to meet with some of the displaced people. But, at the same time, we want to talk about the future during the visit. There were many opportunities to talk. We felt honored because we were received by the Prime Minister, the President, the President of the National Assembly of Armenia, and as I already mentioned the members of the parliamentary friendship group. We also met Artsakh refugees. In addition, our delegation was also received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia. During all these meetings, we noticed the will and willingness to move forward. The ambassador of Armenia to Uruguay was also with us, who has already done a lot related to culture in the short period of his tenure. As I mentioned, the Armenian community is very active in the life of our country. We had an Armenian rector of the university, today we have a deputy minister, members of parliament, musicians, artists, people of all professions. The Armenian community of Uruguay is always present in the country's life and therefore it warmly welcomed the presence of the Armenian Embassy. In the meetings held during the visit, we discussed issues related to the development of social and cultural activities, as well as the strengthening of economic relations between our countries. Thinking about the future, we also talked about how we can develop tourism, we talked about sports, the goal we have to include all the potential in the relationship and make progress in various areas of cooperation. Although I am not a part of the Government, the Vice President of the Chamber is a representative of the ruling party, and during the visit he had meetings on these and other issues.

- In your opinion, what are the areas that are of the greatest interest in terms of developing and deepening relations and cooperation between the two countries?

- I think that we should continue to move forward, but there is a clear intention to explore how to intensify tourism and trade between our countries. Uruguay already receives Armenian products, but there is interest in exporting other products from Armenia to Uruguay, such as dried fruits. During this time, the Armenian ambassador to Uruguay participated in a number of fairs and exhibitions in Montevideo, showing Armenian coffee and other products which are of interest and can be imported to our country. As for tourism, it is obvious that representatives of the Armenian community travel, but tourism is developed not only for the community to recognize its homeland, but also for the citizens to know the two countries in general.

- Starting from 2021, Azerbaijan carried out several military attacks on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and still refuses to withdraw from the territories occupied as a result of these attacks. What is Uruguay's assessment of this aggressive Azerbaijani policy in the region?

- We expressed our opinion at the event I mentioned on April 23, in the presence of the entire government, pointing out two things. April 24 was the day when we were going to commemorate a process related to the Armenian people, during which the extermination or attempted extermination of the Armenian people took place. Genocide is not only a systematic plan to destroy a people physically, but also a plan to destroy their culture, their mind. I think the masterminds failed to achieve that goal, but there are victims and a large number of people scattered around the world, that's why we have Armenian communities scattered around the world who, as I like to say the words of a poet, "carried a brick on their back to show the world what their home was like." I think that at that moment we said, it seems the extermination continues, we talked about what happened, about 120 thousand Armenians, their families...Uruguay expressed its opinion at the event on April 23 of this year. We notice that the intention to annihilate the Armenian people continues, but we see that those pursuing that goal have not succeeded in achieving it. We see that Azerbaijan has not yet given up on those same goals, but Uruguay is showing its solidarity with Armenia. No nation can seek anything other than peace, and this thought has been conveyed to us these days. Of course, we return to Uruguay with that message.

- As a result of the ethnic cleansing and military operations carried out by Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, the local Armenian population was forced to leave their thousand-year-old homeland. What is Uruguay's position regarding these events, and what steps should be taken so that the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh can return to its historical homeland?

- I find it difficult to say what those measures could be. Expressing wishes is one thing and reality is another. Of course, what happened in Artsakh was accepted with deep pain in Uruguay. In the conversation with Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, we were definitely touched by the universal and personal stories presented. It is another matter as to what is being done today to see what possibilities there are in the matter of borders with Azerbaijan? We will be by Armenia's side and will carefully follow these processes.

It is with this mission that we are returning, understanding the complexity of what is happening. At the same time, there is one thing that should not be doubted: Armenia's sovereignty and the desire to achieve peace.

- As a result of the above-mentioned events, Azerbaijan has taken captive, among others, some of the members of the former political and military leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh. Mrs. Olivera, there are opinions that before the COP29, which is due in Baku, Azerbaijan should release the imprisoned Armenians, because it is assumed that after the summit, Baku will become more ruthless, and the return of captured Armenians will be more complicated. In this regard, what would you say, what is Uruguay's position on this issue?

- First of all, we had informal conversations about this in our meetings. I think that the government of Armenia is not going to spare its efforts to achieve the freedom of these prisoners. I don't know what Azerbaijan's attitude will be. I think that at the moment there is a search for dialogue towards peace, surely this is the intention of those who are carrying out these conversations. Because, as far as we understand, hope is not lost, but it is also not easy to find a way to achieve it.

- Mrs. Olivera, it has been a long time since Armenia and Azerbaijan have been negotiating on signing a peace treaty, months ago an agreement on the demarcation of the state border between the two states was reached and a certain part of the border was demarcated. How would you assess these negotiations and, in general, what is Uruguay's view on the ongoing negotiations between Yerevan and Baku?

- I can express my opinion according to what we have talked about during these days and I am going to convey it when I arrive in Uruguay.  The truth is that it was one of those issues that we tried to understand deeply. The talks were very frank and they clearly expressed to us the idea that the issue of demarcation is of great importance. Undoubtedly, I think that this is a fundamental issue of Armenia's sovereignty. I express my personal opinion, but I don't think that there are two different opinions about this in Uruguay.

- Dear Mrs. Olivera, are there any other high-level visits between Uruguay and Armenia expected in the near future?

- Let me say that in Uruguay we are in the middle of an election campaign. There are elections on October 27, but whoever wins the elections, there will be no different opinions about the ties with Armenia.

Of course, we believe that mutual visits between the countries should be deepened. I wish it were possible to come with a larger delegation, but it was not easy to do so close to the elections. However, we felt a great obligation to be here with a representation that reflects the unanimity in Uruguay regarding our relations with Armenia.

 - Would you like to add something?

-Our delegation was at Republic Square, which was really wonderful. Today we will visit Matenadaran, after that we will be in Sevan and Garni. We hope that next time we will be able to stay here longer. We want to convey our sincere love and solidarity to Armenia and the Armenian people.