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YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. His Holiness Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia sees the recovery of Syrian-Armenians through helping needy families, reconstructing the damaged houses and giving a new life to Armenian structures which should be designed and implemented with a comprehensive approach, the Catholicosate told Armenpress.
His Holiness presented his visions over recovery of Syrian-Armenians to the spiritual and community representatives of Armenians of Syria, as well as during a meeting with the participation of representatives of several organizations which provided assistance to the Syrian-Armenians in the past years.
Catholicos Aram I firstly said time has come to launch Syrian-Armenians’ recovery works. “The signals inside the country inspire some hopes in this sense, therefore, we must be filled with hope and belief to these works. By saying recovery I don’t only understand to reconstruct what has been destroyed or rebuild what has been damaged: recovery means to significantly value our current life with its positive and negative sides, to reorganize our collective life and our community structures. The recovery must be designed and carried out with a comprehensive approach. In other words – recovery of economic life, assistance to needy families, reconstruction of destroyed houses and boosting structures. All these must be discussed, designed and implemented in a one whole”, Catholicos Aram I said.
He highlighted the importance of transparency and accountability in these works. “We know that the works will be carried out in a country where conditions are different. We also know that some Western countries put some limitations in terms of assistance provided to Syria. However, in line with this, we need to quickly launch the works based on the principles of transparency and accountability. Such approach will inspire trust to our people”, he said.
He also proposed to set a timetable by always considering the political conditions, as well as the material capabilities.
His Holiness proposed 4 directions for recovery of Syrian-Armenians: assistance to small and medium enterprises and development of loan programs, support for reorganization and revival of national structures, renovation of damaged buildings, assistance to needy families.
He also emphasized the importance to control the programs implementation. In this sense, he said it is necessary to establish a central committee with participation of spiritual leaders, parties and charity organizations of three communities.
In order to implement the programs more coordinated and establish a consistent contact between the sides, His Holiness highlighted the need to establish an office in Aleppo.