22nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE INTERPARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY ON ORTHODOXY (I.A.O.)

Vienna – 25-29 June 2015

Also Read – I.A.O. Resolution on the protection of Christians & other religious minorities in the Middle East:

Central Subject: ‘Orthodox Historic Communities in Europe and around the world’

Resolution – Conclusions

The Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O.), from the center of Europe, the city of Vienna, from the place of the annual General Assembly, conveys to each and every person of good will around the world, every faithful who believes in the concept and existence of the living God, every Christian, every politician who fights in the social arena and the field of human rights, a message of conciliation and hope.

It salutes with love and pride the citizens of Orthodox communities throughout the world who have been giving witness to the Orthodox Christian spirit for whole centuries far away from the familiarity of their homeland and family, keeping their faith and cultural identity alive and strong, preserving their own value system, in harmonious and peaceful coexistence with the people of their new country, free from all sorts of nationalisms and localisms.

We consider that preservation of cultural and religious identity is a component of cultural wealth, absolutely essential for the contemporary world, and contributes to the fruitful diversity of modern civilization and mutual understanding among people.

To all those people who, one way or another, experience the impact of successive economic and other crises, to any citizen who struggles against unaccountability and unconditional exploitation and profit-making of the capitals of absolute nothingness and those of creative accounting and fraud, which not only do they contribute nothing to growth, but they marginalize large groups of citizens. Despite the sinking of the “Casino Economy” model following the collapse of Fannie May & Lehman Brothers, the international community seems unable to enforce rules on the creation and growth of such “investment” initiatives that, not only do not confer any wealth to society, but, on the contrary, restrict real investments, which are now valued as non-profitable and counterproductive. New technologies, which are useful means for direct democracy and citizens’ involvement in sociopolitical developments, in the hands of cunning “economic operators” turn real economy into a game of chance with stock-market speculation, without any reference whatsoever to the real economic and social indicators. A new generation of people is being raised not with the ideals of love for work and integration of innovation into real economy, but interested in easy opportunistic profit.

The difficulties of life, of survival, caused by the ongoing economic crises of our times, cannot be turned into structural, constant and permanent crises of our society; neither can they drag peoples into desperate moves.

At an increasing frequency, we mourn new victims of accidents involving economic migrants and refugees, innocent people who lose their life seeking out a place of tranquility for themselves and their families. Therefore, we are stating that the greed of the international uncontrollable capital cannot go on disrupting the geopolitical map of wealth-producing areas and exacerbating religious dispute and fundamentalism. The political gap, social discontent, is hastily filled by all sorts of mostly far-right anti-European populism and local nationalism.

In this regard, the remarks in the communiqué of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches during their synaxis in Phanar in 2014, outline the dimensions of the problem:

«…..4. A fundamental threat to justice and peace – both locally and globally – is the global economic crisis. The ramifications of this are evident on all layers in society, where such values as personal integrity, fraternal solidarity and justice are often wanting. The origins of this crisis are not merely financial. They are moral and spiritual in character. Instead of conforming to the worldly idols of power, greed and hedonism, we emphasize our vocation to transform the world by embracing the principles of justice, peace, and love…».

It is with special interest that we are following the preparations under way for the Great and Holy Synod of the Orthodox churches, which is going to take place «…under the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul in 2016, if everything goes according to plan…» and we are ready to contribute our might to its flawless preparation.

We are particularly concerned with the situation in Middle East, the regular destruction of its historical monuments and archeological sites under the veil of Islam. It is a major loss, which will have negative effects on the local communities forever, both because of the cultural significance of the monuments – as a source of information about the past and as symbols of identity and historical continuity of communities – and because of their broader socio-economic value. Cultural heritage is not just a secondary damage of warfare, because it is a key resource that contributes to the enhancement of communities’ vital resilience.

We are asking for cessation of migration of big parts of the area’s population who abandon their ancestral homes and become refugees to an unknown destination. We are expressing our solidarity to all citizens, Christians or Muslims, who are persecuted, imprisoned, exiled and led to despair and social isolation. We are particularly standing by the Christians of our communities in the suffering areas of Middle East and Syria.

Finally, the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (I.A.O.) pays due tribute to the tragic victims of the genocide against Armenians and Pontian Greeks, as well as the thousands of innocent people who lost their lives during World War II.

ORGANS OF THE INTERPARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY ON ORTHODOXY (I.A.O.)

JUNE 2015 President of the General Assembly:

Secretary General:

Sergei Popov (Russian Federation),  Ioannis Amanatidis (Greece)

Alternate Secretary: Athanasios Bouras (Greece)

Treasurer: Stavros Arachovitis (Greece)

Advisors: Dr. Kostas Mygdalis (Greece), Prof. Valery Alexeev (Russian Federation)

International Secretariat:

Jaroslav Nilov (Russian Federation)

Kostas Konstantinou (Cyprus)

Petru Andea (Romania)

Aragats Akhoyan (Armenia)

Eugeniusz Czykwin (Poland)

Fuad Kokaly (Palestine)

Committees of the International Secretariat

• Financial Committee

Chairman:  Jaroslav Nilov (Russian Federation)

Rapporteur: Stavros Arachovitis (Greece)

    Members: George Varnava (Cyprus)

• Committee on Regulation

Chairman:  Joseph Iskander (Sudan)

Rapporteur: Ghassan Moukheiber (Lebanon)

    Members: Eugenio Tuma (Chile)

Drago Kalabic (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

• Committee on Human Rights

Chairman:  Angelos Votsis (Cyprus)

Rapporteur: Andrei Klementiev (Latvia)

Members: Mkrtich Minasyan (Armenia)

  Eugenio Tuma (Chile)

Miron Ignat (Romania)

 

• Committee on Culture

Chairman: Aleksander Čotrić (Serbia)

 Rapporteur: Nadezhda Pethukhova (Kazakhstan)

 Members: Valeri Korb (Estonia)

Genc Pollo (Albania)

Atef Kawar (Jordan)

Riad Rahal (Lebanon)

Sergey Scheblygin (Russian Federation)

• Committee on International Policy

Chairman:    Sergey Scheblygin (Russian Federation)

Rapporteur: Vangjel Dule (Albania)

    Members: Andres Zottos (Argentina)

Sergejs Mirskis (Latvia)

Moheeb Salama (Palestine)

Efstathia Booras (USA)

Atef Kawar (Jordan)

Drago Kalabic (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

Emilo Labudovic (Montenegro)

Dmitry Sablin (Russian Federation)

Ioannis Amanatidis (Greece)

• Committee on Mass Media

Chairman:   Volen Siderov (Bulgaria)

Rapporteur: Miron Ignat (Romania)

Members: Efstathia Booras (USA)

Vladimir Velman (Estonia)

Michail Markelov (Russian Federation)

Nazih Abboud (Syria)

• Committee on Social Activity, Family and Motherhood

Chairperson: Elena Mizulina (Russian Federation)

    Rapporteur: Atef Majdalani (Lebanon)

        Members: Nadezhda Petukhova (Kazakhstan)

Strachinja Bulaich (Montenegro)

Dorel Covaci (Romania)

• Committee on Education

Chairperson:  Zakaria Kutsnashvili (Georgia)

    Rapporteur: Athanasios Bouras (Greece)

        Members: Irina Kralevich (Belarus)

Mileta Poskurica (Serbia)

Redha Haddad (Jordan)

Sergey Obukhov (Russian Federation)

• Coordinating Cooperation Committee with the Pan-African Parliament

   Head:         Andreas Michailidis (Greece)

Rapporteur: Tom Katsiantonis (USA)

    Members: Joseph Iskander (Sudan)

                      Barthelemy Tshiongo (Democratic Republic of Congo)

                      Theodore Ssekikubo (Uganda)

Zacarias Jose (Mozambique)

• Coordinating Cooperation Committee with the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Eurasian Economic Community

      Head: Alexandr Miliutin (Kazakhstan)

Rapporteur: Plamen Slavov (Bulgaria)

    Members: Joseph Iskander (Sudan)

Andres Zottos (Argentina)

Nadezhda Pethukhova (Kazakhstan)

Barthelemy Tshiongo (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Atef Kawar (Jordan)

Emilo Labudovic (Montenegro)

• Coordinating Cooperation Committee with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russian – Belarus Union

   Head: Irina Kralevich (Belarus)

Rapporteur: George Varnava (Cyprus)

     Members: Vladimir Velman (Estonia)

Sergey Scheblygin (Russian Federation)

Strachinja Bulaich (Montenegro)

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