The AYF delegation: (L-R) Hayk Igityan (Armenia), Arpine Martirosyan (Sweden), Sarineh Abrahamian (Netherlands), and Garabed Chadoian (Austria)

From The Armenian Weekly

TIRANA, Albania (A.W.)—A member of the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), the youth organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), was elected vice-president in the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) for the first time. Garabed Chadoian of Austria was elected as one of seven European vice-presidents during the IUSY World Congress, which was held Feb. 25-28 in the Albanian capital of Tirana. He will be representing the Black Sea region, according to the ARF Bureau Youth Office in Yerevan.

Chadoian at the podium

The AYF participated in the World Council with a four-member delegation comprised of Sarineh Abrahamian (Netherlands), Arpine Martirosyan (Sweden), Hayk Igityan (Armenia), and Chadoian (Austria).

The 2015 World Council, which took place in Yerevan May 7-10, 2015, unanimously passed a resolution on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, condemning the denial of the genocide and demanding justice for the crime.

The resolution states that IUSY supports the “Armenian people’s struggle for the recognition and reparation of the Armenian Genocide by calling upon Turkey to start an immediate process of eliminating the consequences of the Armenian Genocide and initiate a process of restoring the rights of the Armenian people.” It also notes that “IUSY believes this is the only reliable road to reconciliation of the two countries and nations.”

Founded in 1907, IUSY is the biggest political youth organization in the world, representing about 140 organizations from more than 100 countries. As the youth of Socialist International (SI), IUSY brings together socialist, social democratic, and labor political youth organizations from around the world to fight for freedom and human rights, social justice and democracy, peaceful solutions to political problems, and ending all forms of discrimination.

The youth organization of the ARF, the Armenian Youth Federation, is a full member of both IUSY and the Young European Socialists (YES; formerly European Community Organization of Socialist Youth, or ECOSY).