Greece will offer aid to Armenia’s refugees of Nagorno-Karabakh who were displaced by Azerbaijan, Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said on Wednesday in Yerevan.
Greece “will soon support a program that will fund the forcibly displaced persons of Nagorno-Karabakh, to meet their needs, particularly accommodation,” he said.
“It will also relate to the preservation of the Christian cultural sites in Nagorno-Karabakh. We are definitely in favor of preserving the Christian sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, and we want the UNESCO fact-finding mission to be on the ground to reveal the damages that these sites have suffered or could suffer,” he added.
Greece, he noted, is closely monitoring developments in the Caucasus region. “From the first moment, we expressed our solidarity with the people of Armenia and sent humanitarian aid for the needs arising from the mass, violent, exodus of population from Nagorno-Karabakh.”
During joint statements with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan, Gerapetritis called for the resumption of talks between Yerevan and Baku to consolidate security and stability in the South Caucasus.
“Achieving lasting, just and sustainable regional peace and building good-neighborly relations must be the goal of both sides. The ‘Crossroads of Peace’ [transport connections] project presented by Armenia, which we consider to be implementable and inclusive, is in this direction.”
On his part, Mirzoyan stressed the friendship between Armenia and Greece.
“The friendship between the Armenian and Greek people arises from the depths of centuries and millennia, the Armenian and Greek states have worked closely together at various times throughout history,” noted.
The Armenian foreign minister thanked his Greek counterpart for supporting the development of Armenia-EU relations.
“We are truly ready to develop these ties on the basis of the values we share in Armenia, Greece and the EU. I am talking about democracy, human rights and other values. I expect future support from Greece in this process,” he said.
He added that Armenia and Greece have built strong, friendly ties over the past 30 years. “Our agenda is very rich in all areas. Today’s meeting is a very good opportunity to deal with this agenda, strengthen our relations and promote our intensive political dialogue, covering many topics, from the economy, security and defense to culture.”
In December, Greece and Armenia signed a cooperation agreement in the military-technical sector.
Defense Minister Nikos Dendias expressed Greece’s readiness to collaborate with friendly and allied countries such as Armenia and to continue enhancing cooperation for mutual benefit.