Mr. Minister, honorable Nikos, dear friend,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Just a few days ago, we had an important meeting in New York within the Armenia-Greece-Cyprus trilateral format, and today I am delighted to host my good friend and colleague Nikos Dendias and his delegation in Yerevan.

Allow me, Mr. Dendias, to express my gratitude to Greece and the Government of Greece for the consistent support to Armenia and the Armenian people, especially when we are encountering the Azerbaijani aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia. Your visit to Armenia during the difficult days of the 44-day war in the fall of 2020, as well as your presence in Yerevan today, are the demonstration of solidarity and support we greatly appreciate.

Dear colleagues,

Today, my colleague and I had the opportunity to touch upon the development of Armenian-Greek relations. Over the past 30 years, we have managed to establish strong interstate relations and a comprehensive bilateral agenda that includes active political dialogue, cooperation in the economy, defense, transport, culture and other important areas.

We underscored our effective cooperation also within the trilateral format of Armenia-Greece-Cyprus. I am sure that with joint efforts we will be able to further develop this important format which will serve the promotion of vital interests of our three countries. 

Today we also comprehensively discussed regional and international developments. I presented to my colleague the situation in the South Caucasus, including the consequences of the recent aggression of Azerbaijan against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia.

We stress the importance of the appropriate and adequate response of the international community to the maximalist and criminal aspirations of Azerbaijan against stability and peace. Inadequate, equating responses to the aggressor and the target of aggression lead to new crimes. In this context, we value the position of friendly Greece regarding the resulting situation.

It is clear that the consequences of the aggression should be eliminated, i.e. first of all, the Azerbaijani armed forces must withdraw from the sovereign territory of Armenia, the Armenian prisoners of war must be repatriated and the ceasefire regime must be fully observed. At the same time, the international community should prevent perilous steps and possible new aggressions of Azerbaijan through clear actions and mechanisms.

Today we also discussed the process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I would like to remind you that it was on this exact day two years ago, when Azerbaijan unleashed a large-scale aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh and its people. Today, two years later, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains unsettled, because the core issues of the conflict have not been resolved.

I would like to emphasize once again that, as a responsible member of the international community, we reject the approach of resolving issues through the use of force and the threat of use of force, and reaffirm our commitment to establish peace and stability in the region through peaceful negotiations.

I will conclude my speech here, and I gladly pass the floor to you, dear colleague.