To: “We are the owners of our city” civic initiative

“Save Teghut” civic initiative

Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (IDHR)

“Our city” civic initiative

“Trchkan” civil movement

All Armenian citizens and other movements fighting for human rights

Geneva, 12 June 2012

Dear friends,

With these few lines we wish to express our deepest gratitude to you for the fight that you have been leading since a few years to save the ancient lands of the Armenian nation from being destroyed by mining activities, as well as for the unprecedented achievement of the liberation of the Mashtots Park which has been an undeniable victory of our constitutional rights, thanks to your determination and struggle.

We share with you the conviction that we have the moral duty to preserve our lands inherited from our ancestors and pass them down to our future generations, to reinforce our national borders by populating the contiguous villages instead of undermining them by dislocating people for mining reasons. If, however, our national natural resources are to be exploited in some way, it must uniquely be done with the consent of the Armenian people because the sovereignty of the nation resides in them, hence, every decision relating to the national long-term interests belongs to them.

You have been solemnly defending our constitutional rights days and nights, during cold winter in Mashtots Park, Trchkan, Teghut or Kajaran in order to perpetuate the existence of our nation, to preserve its wonderful nature so that it does not turn into a big mining hole filled up with tones of chemical waste as a gift for our future generations.

These unprecedented civic movements have been inspirational giving us the will to rise up for our constitutional rights and made us believe in the future of Armenia that we all have dreamt to see for so many years after the birth of the third republic.

Armenia needs a powerful state to overcome all the social, economic and political issues that the country is facing today, but prior to that it needs a powerful civil society because the state is precisely the expression and product of the civil society and the will of its nation. Without a healthy, mature and educated civil society we will never be able to produce a healthy and a powerful state with its supreme mission to perpetuate the prosperity and existence of the nation.

Thus, we express our unconditional support and gratitude to our brothers and sisters for defending our national resources and nature, for fighting for our civil rights and the supremacy of our constitution, for building a powerful and healthy civil society based on mutual respect and love for each other as well as for the mother nature and which will be secured by the supreme power of the Armenian Constitution.

With our warm regards,

Hakob Aslanyan

Tigran Tonoyan

Anush Sargsyan

Arsen Torosyan

Artush Yeghiazaryan

Liana Ghukasyan

Meda Khachaturyan

Nejdeh Khachaturyan

Garabed Yelegen

Ashot Ghazaryan

Bagdasar Kushkian

Alice Mehtemetian

Hrant Sahakyan

Asya Mikhaylidis-Sahakyan

Armen Petrosyan

Lusine Aslanyan

Armen Zargaryan

Nuné Magoyan

Arnold Mikhaylidis

Armen Margaryan

Hripsimé Margaryan

Zareh Kurkdjian

Vahan Mkhitaryan

Lyudvig Yeghiazaryan

Christine Sedef

Sarkis Shahinian

Astrig Marandjian

Frederic Lapeyre

Ani Mnatsakanian

Anna Sargsyan

Petar Kuruch

Lilit Tovmasyan

Ofelya Hovhannisyan

Gor Sultanyan

Agnieszka Suska

Raffi Garibian

Ani Garibian

Aline Dedeyan

Gohar Oganessian

Gework Oganessian

Anelga Arslanian

Viken Cheterian