The former student of the Citadel of Peace, currently Armenia’s National Assembly member, secured the highest number of votes among the candidates, with 119 votes from parliamentarians representing 57 countries.
It is with great pride and satisfaction that Rondine Cittadella della Pace welcomes the outstanding milestone achieved by Maria Karapetyan. Member of the National Assembly of Armenia and “Rondine d’Oro”, Karapetyan has been elected Vice-President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. The election saw an extraordinary consensus around her figure: the Armenian representative received the highest number of preferences among all candidates, gathering 119 votes from parliamentarians representing 57 countries.
On behalf of the entire Rondine community, we extend our warmest congratulations to Maria for this wonderful recognition. We do so with the absolute certainty that she will fulfill her prestigious role with excellent professionalism and profound humanity, continuing to foster dialogue and reconciliation among peoples.
This milestone breathes new life into the words Maria spoke in the past, right during her formative years at Rondine—words that today resonate as a promise kept and validated by her exceptional achievements:
“Youth are not just the future, but the present: if you give young people the chance to take part in shaping their own future, they can be at the forefront of peacebuilding.”
A life dedicated to dialogue and human rights
Born in Armenia in 1988—the year her homeland was devastated by a terrible earthquake—Maria Karapetyan learned over the years to accept unchangeable events, choosing instead to step up with courage wherever she could make a difference. This journey of personal growth was uniquely shaped by her experience at Rondine.
From 2013 to 2015, she was a student at the Citadel of Peace, where she actively committed herself to designing and implementing educational programs for both Italian and international students. During the same period, she successfully completed a Master’s Degree in Peace Studies at Roma Tre University.
Her personal and professional path has always been intertwined with a dedication to armed conflict resolution and grassroots diplomacy. She has contributed to innovative dialogue projects among the peoples of the South Caucasus and, since 2012, served as Development Director of the Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation—an independent organization founded in 2007 dedicated to the positive transformation of relations and laying the foundations for lasting and sustainable peace in post-conflict societies.
In this framework, she was actively involved in designing and implementing dialogue projects between peoples, working extensively across the Caucasus.
In the spring of 2018, during the so-called Velvet Revolution, Karapetyan took to the streets in Yerevan as one of the leading figures driving her country’s political shift toward greater democracy. Entering public office, she served as a Member of the National Assembly from 2019 to 2021, during which time she sat on the Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs. Following the parliamentary elections of 20 June 2021, she was re-elected to the National Assembly, where she serves to this day on the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations.
