YEREVAN. - Like the Jewish people, the Armenians are also closely tied to their homeland.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edlestein noted the aforementioned at the plenary session of the Israeli Knesset on Thursday, welcoming the Armenian parliamentary delegation.

In his speech, the Speaker said the following:

“Dear Knesset members,

I would like to welcome the Armenia-Israel parliamentary Friendship Group.

Honorable guests, welcome to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, and Knesset, our residence of democracy.

The Armenian and Jewish people had similar commonness during their entire history. In the 20th century our peoples went through horrible tragedies, facing the threat of elimination. We consider the Armenian people our friends, and hope to develop our ties and cooperation also in the spheres of culture, tourism, economy and especially agriculture.

This has been the second visit of the Armenian parliamentary delegation to Israel in the recent period. We hope that the mutual visits of the parliamentarians will become more frequent, being aimed at knowing and understanding each other better.

Like Israel, Armenia has a large Diaspora, especially in the United States and France. Like the Jewish people, the Armenians are also closely linked to their homeland. The Armenian Diaspora is much bigger by number than the Armenian population itself, which is peculiar to the Jewish people as well. We hope to cooperate with you, exchanging our knowledge and experience in maintaining the ties with the Diaspora.

I warmly greet you on behalf of the Knesset, its members and me, wishing you pleasant days in Israel and Jerusalem.

My blessing to you and your great people.”