Parliament’s presidency welcomes Armenia’s Ambassador to Iraq

4 April 2019 - Parliament’s presidency and Armenian MP Fahik Kamal Seranian today welcomed H.E. Hrachya Poladian, Armenia’s Ambassador to Iraq, who is in the Kurdistan Region for the construction of a new church in Ankawa, the main Christian district in Erbil.

Speaker Dr. Vala Farid said that Armenians and Kurds have in common histories marked by suffering, and that the people of Kurdistan have great sympathy for the Armenian people. Dr. Farid informed Ambassador Poladian that 11 of parliament’s 111 seats are reserved for religious and ethnic communities who compete in the election, and of these one is reserved for the Armenian community. In the last election, Mr. Serenian won the Armenian reserved seat.

The Armenian ambassador commended the Kurdistan Region for supporting the building of Christian churches here and for providing refuge to IDPs and refugees from the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. 

Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami and Ambassador Poladian both hoped that the Kurdistan and Armenian parliaments could work towards creating friendship caucuses. The Ambassador said that Armenia would like to establish student and academic research exchange programs, and Armenia’s radio or television programmes to be broadcast here. Armenia plans to open a consulate in Erbil by early next year, he said.

Parliament Secretary Muna Kahveci said that the rights of Kurdistan’s Turkmen and Christian communities are protected by Kurdistan Region’s laws, and she hoped for these rights to be strengthened in a Kurdistan Constitution in the future.