Beirut: April 7, 2009

At the Druze Community House in Verdun, His Eminence, Sheikh Aql Mouwahidoun Druze, Sheikh Naim HASSAN, met a delegation of the Armenian Deputies Bloc headed by Deputy Agob Bukradonian, including MP George Qasarji and the former Minister Artur Nzerian and Kriquar calouste, and Brij Sabonjian. Following the meeting, deputy Bukradonian announced, “The visit to His Eminence is of great national and symbolic importance. We discussed with him the elections issue where opinions met with respect to the bloc tenets and political goals; we emphasized the necessity of elections to take place on the seventh of coming June with integrity and honesty as one of the most significant phases of democracy in Lebanon, away from differences, intolerance, chaos and violent political discourse. Through our many meetings with the religious and spiritual authorities, we felt that these authorities have fundamental constants we do support in the course of the independency, sovereignty and freedom of Lebanon, and the need for common co-existence. As to the Armenian Deputies Bloc, we emphasized for His Eminence that it will be a bloc of stability, moderation, balance and dialogue in the Parliament.”
Asked about the conciliation between the two lists in Metn, he said, “I reiterate that there is an agreement with General Michel Aoun, that the second Orthodox for us is H.E. Michel Murr if there were no Armenians on the list of President Al-Murr, and today we still have some time to know, and we will see how we will deal with the convenient situation.”
In regard of how to deal with the Lebanese Forces Armenian candidate in Achrafieh, he said, “ We will deal with the candidacy of Professor Richard Gayoomijian by the Lebanese Forces as we deal with the rest of the Armenian candidates in the name of the Future Movement.”
And in respect of the approach followed by the Armenian Bloc between the loyalists and the majority, he said, “We always say that the history of the bloc refers to year 1975 and more; the bloc experience stands as the best evidence for this, and we do not call it as mean or neutral but as the Armenian Deputies Bloc.”