Sarkisian Thanks Greek Parliament for Criminalizing Genocide Denial

YEREVAN — President Serzh Sarkisian on Tuesday held negotiations with his visiting Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias. A number of documents were signed between the two delegations based on the results of the negotiations.

In a statement afterwards President Sarkisian said the two sides had discussed at full length all issues of the bilateral agenda as well as ways of expanding cooperation. “We share the opinion that the interstate relations of Armenia and Greece are always distinguished by their high level, marked by visits of presidents, the development of economic, scientific, cultural, decentralized, inter-parliamentary ties,” said Sarkisian, according to his press service.

“We reaffirmed our desire to further deepen cooperation between our countries on multilateral planes, including within the framework of the Armenia-EU partnership,” Sarkisian added. “I voiced Armenia’s determination to develop our relations with the EU in all possible directions and expressed hope that friendly Greece will support Armenia on this issue.”

The Armenian president particularly praised the “constructive dialogue established between the defense ministries of the two states.” “We, of course, highly evaluated the fact that Armenian servicemen for years have received high-quality education as well as retraining in military establishments of friendly Greece,” Sargsyan emphasized.

At the same time, he said that trade and economic ties in the general context of Armenian-Greek relations need to be stimulated at the state level. During the negotiations, according to President Sargsyan, the two parties reaffirmed their desire to deepen cooperation at multilateral platforms, including within the framework of Armenia-European Union partnership. The sides also discussed regional issues.

“We are thankful to Greece for being one of the first states to have recognized the Armenian Genocide by force of a law, and now for the major step made in the fight against denialism,” Sargsyan said, referring to the law recently adopted by the Greek parliament criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide.