International Conference on “Armenia in the Eastern and Western Sources” Held in Cairo

CAIRO, EGYPT — The 4th international conference on “Armenia in Eastern and Western Sources” was held at the Center for Armenian Studies at Cairo University on November 14-15. This time the conference was dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s independence and was organized under the auspices of the President of Cairo University Dr. Hussam Kamel and with support from the Armenian Embassy in Egypt. 
Attending the solemn opening ceremony were Deputy Foreign Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt Waheed Galal, renowned Egyptian intellectuals, students and professors of Cairo University and other universities, as well as members of the Egyptian-Armenian community.
 The participants of the conference were greeted by the Ambassador of Armenia to Egypt H.E. Dr. Armen Melkonian, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Cairo University Dr. Motaz Sayid Abdallah and Director of the Center for Armenian Studies Dr. Zeynab Abu Sinna, who praised the role of the Center in the development of Armenian-Arab cooperation in science, education and culture. The Armenian Ambassador underlined that the presence of more than 30 speeches by Egyptian scientists goes to show the fact that the Center has managed to increase Egyptian scientists’ interest in Armenian studies throughout the last couple of years. The two-day conference included speeches by experts from Armenia, Syria and Lebanon. 
One of the five sessions was entirely devoted to the Armenian Cause in the Ottoman Empire. What especially sparked great interest were Muhammad Refaat Al-Imam’s speech on “The Description of the Armenian Cause in Contemporary Arab Literature (1878-1923)”, Ali Sabet Sabri’s “Academic Viewpoint of the 1894-96 Armenian Massacres”, Narine Harutyunyan’s (Armenia) “Reflection of the 1894-96 Armenian Massacres in Cairo’s “Al-Mushir” Magazine” and Nora Arisian’s (Syria) “Armenians in the Syrian Media”. The materials of the conference will be printed in a book