Andreas Aebi who arrived in Isfahan in continuation of his visit to Iran, added in a meeting with the archbishop of Isfahan-based Armenians at Vank Church of that historical city "I am glad to see that the Iranian society of Christians are speaking their own Armenian language and love their own language".
Announcing that this is his first visit of Iran, the Swiss Parliament speaker said that Iran is a country with many thousands of years of history with lots of cultural similarities between the Iranian and Swiss nations.
"We speak four languages in Switzerland and a society comprised of people with different religions, including the Armenians and Iranians’ societies," he added.
He said that the Switzerland is a small country with an eight-million strong population, and today we are not witnesses to the occurrence of any war in our country.
Aebi said that he is opposed to the existing sanctions, arguing that during the next decade, and even 50 years we must work to terminate the entire sanctions in the world.
Archbishop Kashchian said that the Iranian Armenians enjoy freedom, schools, and observation of their own cultural traditions.
The leader of Isfahan's and southern Iranian regions’ Armenians, too, said in the meeting that he Iranian Armenians have their own schools and their ancient history, as well as the entire values of their 400-year history.
Archbishop Kashchian said that in early years of the 17th century due to the problems that the Ottoman Empire had created both for Iran and for the Armenians, the Armenians were forced to leave that land and choose to reside in Iran, where they built their homes and cultural centers, and as you see they are stronger today, and proud of their success.
He said one of the problems with which the central parts of Iran are entangled with is the water shortage problem, while Iran has rich water resources in the north and south, asking the Swiss Parliament speaker to send his country’s experts not only to solve Isfahan’s water shortage problem, but also the problem in entire parts of Iran.
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