Category: 2024

It's a ghost town that looms large in the minds of both Armenians, who know it as Stepanakert, and Azerbaijanis, who know it as Khankendi. 

It served for three decades as the de facto capital of the self-proclaimed, now-defunct Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).

It was home to the majority of the republic's 100,000-some population, nearly all of them Armenians, who fled to Armenia after Azerbaijan's lightning offensive to seize the whole of the NKR on September 19-20. As they fled they endured a gas explosion that killed over 200, a days-long traffic jam during which 64 people reportedly died, and faced an uncertain status once they reached their destination.

Azerbaijan never accepted the existence of the NKR, nor even the term "Nagorno-Karabakh," let alone the idea that it had a capital. But the town of Khankendi is of enormous symbolic importance for it, too, as its seizure represents the total nature of Baku's victory in Karabakh.

It was Khankendi where President Ilham Aliyev delivered his most triumphant victory speech, raised the Azerbaijani flag and mocked the detained former NKR leaders. 

And it was Khankendi where the victory in the 2020 war against Armenia over Karabakh was celebrated with a military parade attended by Aliyev and his family in November. 

“During these 20 years [of my presidency], I never doubted that this day would come and a military parade under the Azerbaijani flag would be held in the city of Khankendi,” he told the parade. “I once said [during the 2020 war] that without Shusha, our work would be incomplete. However, even then, I knew that without Khankendi and Khojaly, our work would be incomplete.” 

Footage posted on social media from Khankendi by a handful of Azerbaijanis with access to the town shows virtually no signs of life. According to the Armenian government, more than 100,000 people had left Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia within the 10 days following the NKR's surrender after Azerbaijan's lightning offensive. 

In December, Azerbaijani media reported, citing the country's commission for Internally Displaced Persons affairs, that 50 Azerbaijani families, originally from Khankendi, would soon be resettled in the town. While the town served as the seat of the government of Soviet Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (1923-91), its population was overwhelmingly Armenian with an Azerbaijani minority. Its population was 11 percent Azerbaijani according to the latest Soviet census conducted there in 1979. 

The Azerbaijani government created a "reintegration portal" for Armenians deciding to remain in their homes and accept Baku's rule. It claimed in October to have received 98 applications, but the International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that only about 20 have stayed behind. 

While Armenia says that the local Armenians' flight in the face of Azerbaijani military advance amounted to ethnic cleansing, Azerbaijani officials insist that they left by their own will, as Aliyev reiterated in an interview with Euronews in December. 

“Our public communications with Karabakh Armenians, and what we did after, demonstrated that we wanted them to stay. We openly announced that and I, during my appeal to the Azerbaijani people after the end of the anti-terror operation [the September offensive], said that they could stay,” he said. “We opened the electronic portal of registration. All of those who want to come back have this right. Their property is duly protected. All the historical and religious sites are duly protected.”

In the reports of meetings of Azerbaijani officials with Armenian residents in Karabakh for the purpose of registration, we see mainly elderly people who were likely too weak to join the exodus. 

Azerbaijan disclosed its reintegration plan for Karabakh Armenians publicly only in October, after the vast majority of the population had fled the region. Vague as it is overall, it makes one thing clear: as expected, there will be no special treatment for Armenians; they are to have the exact same legal status as Azerbaijanis or other ethnic minorities. 

“The word reintegration, which I use many times, unfortunately, was met with a kind of irony, both from the Armenian government and also from the separatists. The same separatists who now wait for the verdict in the detention center,” Aliyev said in a forum in early December. 

“We even delivered the message to them that we will have a municipal election at the end of 2024, so they will participate. They will select their representatives, who will be the leaders of the municipalities. So, what else should we have provided or offered? It was the maximum and it was totally transparent.”

He also spoke to the forum about how Azerbaijani social workers were taking care of the Armenians who stayed behind. “[Y]ou have to eat, you have to have heating, you have to have other means of living. Not many of them, I would say, remained. But those who remain, they have been taken care of and those who want to come back, they can use this mechanism,” he said. 

A few Karabakhis have mused on social media about possibly going back to their homes given the difficulties they face in settling in Armenia. 

But it's not clear how widespread or serious the intention is, especially given the social pressures against accepting Azerbaijani rule. 

When it comes to the physical landscape, as soon as it restored its sovereignty, the Azerbaijani government rid Khankendi of all flags and other attributes of the former NKR. A presidential decree established "Karabakh University" in place of what had been known as "Artsakh University" under Armenian rule. And the seats at the local stadium had been arranged in such colors as to form the NKR flag but are now arranged to spell out "Karabakh is Azerbaijan." 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said Wednesday that the process of delimitation concerning the country's Gazakh-Tovuz Economic Region will be discussed with Armenia at an upcoming meeting of commissions responsible for the matter.

“The next meeting of the commissions is scheduled for this month, and this issue is on the agenda: the delimitation issue of that region, the Gazakh-Tovuz region,” Aliyev said during an interview with local television channels.

He said the issue of eight villages still under Armenian occupation is always on the agenda in talks between the two countries.

“This issue was discussed during my contacts with the prime minister of Armenia (Nikol Pashinyan), including the last conversation in St. Petersburg. I raised this issue, and this issue is also on the agenda of commissions dealing with delimitation.”

Aliyev said that Azerbaijan must fully restore its territorial integrity and sovereignty, adding they must solve this issue “once and for all” and there should not be “a single nest of separatism” anywhere in the country.

He later denied the need for guarantors, which he said is being sought by Armenia, expressing that the peace treaty needs to be signed at the bilateral level but that they don't mind if a third country expresses the desire to help.

“However, this help should not be mandatory,” he added.

Stressing that it is impossible to talk to them in “a language of threats or arrogance,” Aliyev said efforts to arm Armenia are aimed at keeping Azerbaijan “under constant pressure” and that France is at the forefront of such efforts.

“France is the country that arms Armenia, gives them support, trains their soldiers and prepares them for another war. When I said that France's policy is causing tensions in the Caucasus, this is exactly what I meant,” he said.

Aliyev further touched on the movement of cargo and citizens within Azerbaijan, indicating that it should take “place freely without undergoing any inspection.”

“Otherwise, Armenia will remain in an eternal deadlock, and if the (Zangezur) route I mentioned is not opened, we are not going to open our border with Armenia anywhere else. So they will do themselves more harm than good,” he said.

Aliyev went on to say that infrastructure projects in the Karabakh region give them the opportunity to return internally displaced peoples (IDPs) to their ancestral lands, adding that they plan on the return of Azerbaijani IDPs to the cities of Shusha, Jabrayil, Kalbajar, Khankendi and Khojaly in 2024.

“Former IDPs are expected to return to the cities of Aghdam, Zangilan and Gubadli in 2025,” he added.

https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/azerbaijans-president-says-delimitation-concerning-gazakh-tovuz-region-to-be-discussed-with-armenia-3675865

BAKU: Azerbaijan has rejected France’s involvement in the normalization process of its relations with Armenia, said Zaur Mammadov, Adviser to the Academy of Public Administration under the President and Chairman of the Baku Political Scientists Club.

In a recent interview with a local TV channel, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev addressed various issues, including France’s alleged unfair policies and the exposure of a French spy network in Azerbaijan.

President Ilham Aliyev, in his recent address, criticized France for what he deemed as unfair policies and the exposure of a French spy network in Azerbaijan.

He called on the French government to recognize Azerbaijan’s adherence to international law, urging them not to interfere in internal affairs or involve themselves in the Azerbaijani-Armenian dispute.

Aliyev also discussed the Zangezur corridor matter and said that Armenia must guarantee unhindered passage between the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the main part of Azerbaijan.

He warned of alternative measures less favorable to Armenia if this requirement is not met.

Moreover, Mammadov noted that direct dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia, without external mediation, could have a more significant impact.

https://en.wenews.pk/azerbaijan-rejects-frances-role-in-normalizing-relations-with-armenia/

On December 18, 2023,  in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians; received Reverend Fr. Abraham Malkhasyan, Pastor of the Armenian Church of the Holy Martyrs of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America (New York), who received the doctoral degree from Fordham University in the USA.

With the blessings of His Holiness Karekin II, Father Abraham continued his studies at the Department of Religion and Religious Studies of Fordham University, defending his doctoral thesis on the topic “Understanding Disaffiliation in the Armenian Church: A Study of Older and Younger Millennials. Fr. Abraham is also teaches at St. John’s University in New York as a professor of Theology.

Presenting his doctoral work to His Holiness, Father Abraham emphasized that the purpose of the work is to identify the current challenges, as a result of which young families find it difficult to participate in church life, and to find ways to overcome them.

The Catholicos of All Armenians reflected with satisfaction about the academic achievement of Father Abraham, emphasizing that this work is an important contribution in the field of pastoral theology and an opportunity for the clergy to familiarize themselves with the issues related to youth.

The Armenian Pontiff noted with joy that the clergymen are engaged in scientific activities in parallel with the pastoral service, enriching their knowledge for the benefit of the spiritual service.

At the meeting, His Holiness, as a token of appreciation, granted a beautiful Pectoral Cross.

At the conclusion, the Reverend Father presented His Holiness his thesis work and the doctoral diploma.

A wonderful Christmas program was presented Sunday, January 7th in the church hall. For information, contact Lara Ciamcian on Facebook.

“THE CURRENT STAGE OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION IN THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA” is a book co-authored by  sociologist Armen Khachikyan, historian Mikayel Malkhasyan, and Fr. Dr. Abraham Malkhasyan. The publication highlights the Republic of Armenia’s demographic policy, historical demographic trends, the impact of the 2020 Artsakh War, the coronavirus pandemic, and other factors on demographic processes. The trend of birth and death rates is analyzed, as well as the impact of migration and population distribution system on the demographic situation. Visit Fr. Dr. Abraham Malkhasyan on Facebook.

Why should Greek Americans learn about the Armenian contribution to their history? The nation played a  unique contribution to Eastern Orthodoxy and Hellenism. Few people know that they carried a lantern of light in the Byzantine Empire throughout its history.

The Byzantine Empire was multi-cultural. Nations and races were united under the Greek language, civilization, and Orthodox faith, calling themselves ROMANS. “Due to centuries of foreign domination, much of Armenian history has been neglected and surpressed,” according to” peopleofar.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/armenians-of-byzantium-part-1/.

“As such much of the influence Armenians had on the Byzantine Empire has been swept under the rug by the Ottomans and later the Soviets. Nevertheless, the contributions of Armenian people to the Byzantine Empire have been more than significant. As the historian P. Charanis (1959) says: “The important role played in the history of Byzantium by that talented minority, the Armenians, has been generally unrecognized.” Even though Armenia was only in part a vassel of Byzantium, many Armenians became successful in the Byzantine Empire. From bishops, architects, important military figures and even Emperors, Armenians were represented in all walks of Byzantine life. In fact, one out of five Byzantine emperors and empresses were ethnically full or in part Armenian.”

“The best example of this is Emperor Heraclius, whose father was Armenian and Mother Cappadocian. Emperor Heraclius began the Heraclean dynasty (610-717 A.D.).,” according toen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Armenia .The Akathistos Hymn sung during Orthodox Lent commemorates his victory and saving of Constantinople with the help of Our Lady, Virgin Mary.

Basil, “The Bulgar Slayer “became one of the strongest Byzantine emperors, winning territory in the Balkans, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Georgia,” according to encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Basil+II+The+Bulgar-Slayer.  “He was noted for his victory (1014) in the war with Bulgaria, which ended with his blinding all the soldiers in the defeated Bulgarian army. He increased his domestic authority by attacking the landed interests of the military aristocracy and of the church.” He was of Armenian descent.

The Armenian military power, to some scholars, was the basis of the stability and longevity of Byzantium. A strong army was needed. Armenia was the source. “From the 5th century forwards, the Armenians were regarded as the main constituent of the Byzantine army,” states en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Armenia.

In the article, “Armenia, Byzantium, and the Byzantine Armenians” (www.looys.net/byz_arm.html), “another example of the impact of Armenians within the Byzantine Empire is the Great Church known as Hagia Sophia. As  Rummel explains, ‘After 
the great earthquake of October 25, A.D. 989, which ruined the great dome of Hagia Sophia, the Byzantine emperor Basil II asked for the Armenian architect Trdat (or Tiridates), creator of the great churches of Ani and Agine, to repair the dome. The magnitude of the destruction in the church caused reconstruction to last six years. The church was re-opened on May 
13, 994.’ The magnificent, reconstructed dome designed by Trdat in the tenth century remains aloft the “Great Church” to this day.” We must not only remember the 100 year genocide, but the unique contribution of Armenians as carriers of the Greek language, civilization, and Eastern Orthodoxy.

All photos by permission of Fr. Dr. Abraham Malkhasyan.

Georgian customs officers seized ₾14,429 ($5,374) in undeclared gold and silver items on the Sarpi border crossing with Turkey in Georgia’s south-west and the Sadakhlo Border Crossing Point on the country's southern border with Armenia.

The country’s Revenue Service on Thursday said the items – weighing in at about 326,34 grams – were seized during personal and luggage search of Georgian and foreign citizens.

The body added the offenders were fined ₾14,429 ($5,374) for the offence.

Armenia has been submitting films for the Best International Feature Film Oscar here and there since 2001, but never has the West Asian country been nominated. This year, that could change with Michael A. Goorjian‘s hopeful fable of Soviet Armenia, “Amerikatsi.” For the first time, Armenia’s Oscar committee got their film on the shortlist of 15, thanks to a groundswell of support that started at the Woodstock Film Festival last year, and with the trumpeting of Canadian-Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan.

Many multi-hyphenates star in films they directed in service of getting the movie made at all. For actor and writer/director Goorjian, the Bay Area-born artist whose father was Armenian and whose paternal grandparents survived the Armenian genocide in World War I, it only made sense to play Charlie Bakhchinyan himself. In “Amerikatsi,” Charlie is an Armenian-American who repatriates to his homeland in 1948, when Armenia was in thrall to Soviet Communism. Returning to his native country, Charlie is swiftly arrested under the Kafkaesque charge of wearing a tie, and from his tiny prison cell window, watches an Armenian couple, Tigran and Sona, who begin to invite him into their lives from across the way.

Looking at the films Armenia typically submits to the Oscars, they tend to revolve around the Armenian genocide in one way or another (see 2022’s animated documentary “Aurora’s Sunrise”). With “Amerikatsi,” Goorjian sought to make a film decidedly not about that horrible slice of history, and it’s buoyed by a classical score from the Armenian Philharmonic, as much a persistent character in this deceptively light drama as the melting pot of people in it (the cast is comprised of Armenians and Russians alike).

The film’s milestone as the first picture with a serious foot forward in the International Feature race was matched by another, as Armenia since September now offers a 40 percent tax credit for productions to shoot in the country. IndieWire spoke with Goorjian about the making of the film and how an Oscar nomination would literally change Armenia and its global position in filmmaking and culture. “Amerikatsi” is now screening for Academy members and had a limited U.S. release in the fall from Variance Films. Voting for Oscar nominations closes on Tuesday, January 16.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

IndieWire: “Amerikatsi” marks the first time Armenia has been seriously considered for an Oscar nomination. What made the difference this time?

Michael A. Goorjian: Going into even making the film, I always thought it would be a great opportunity for Armenia because there haven’t been many films that have come out of the country, and so I’ve always looked towards the possibility of at least having it be Armenia’s submission. We really tried our best to make a film that was more universal in theme. It’s about a lot of Armenian history and Armenian culture, but I wanted to make a film that you didn’t have to be Armenian to appreciate.

Armenian films don’t have a large audience in the U.S., possibly because they often revolve around the genocide and audiences are wary of getting what they think might be a history lesson.

That’s something we fought against in promoting the film. The genocide is an incredibly important subject matter, but Armenian culture has been overshadowed by it. As an Armenian trying to drag my non-Armenian friends to see a film about a genocide is not easy. I wanted to make something that was not about the genocide but also pushing in the opposite direction in making something that was just enjoyable to watch.

Armenia has been submitting films for the Best International Feature Film Oscar here and there since 2001, but never has the West Asian country been nominated. This year, that could change with Michael A. Goorjian‘s hopeful fable of Soviet Armenia, “Amerikatsi.” For the first time, Armenia’s Oscar committee got their film on the shortlist of 15, thanks to a groundswell of support that started at the Woodstock Film Festival last year, and with the trumpeting of Canadian-Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan.

Many multi-hyphenates star in films they directed in service of getting the movie made at all. For actor and writer/director Goorjian, the Bay Area-born artist whose father was Armenian and whose paternal grandparents survived the Armenian genocide in World War I, it only made sense to play Charlie Bakhchinyan himself. In “Amerikatsi,” Charlie is an Armenian-American who repatriates to his homeland in 1948, when Armenia was in thrall to Soviet Communism. Returning to his native country, Charlie is swiftly arrested under the Kafkaesque charge of wearing a tie, and from his tiny prison cell window, watches an Armenian couple, Tigran and Sona, who begin to invite him into their lives from across the way.

Looking at the films Armenia typically submits to the Oscars, they tend to revolve around the Armenian genocide in one way or another (see 2022’s animated documentary “Aurora’s Sunrise”). With “Amerikatsi,” Goorjian sought to make a film decidedly not about that horrible slice of history, and it’s buoyed by a classical score from the Armenian Philharmonic, as much a persistent character in this deceptively light drama as the melting pot of people in it (the cast is comprised of Armenians and Russians alike).

The film’s milestone as the first picture with a serious foot forward in the International Feature race was matched by another, as Armenia since September now offers a 40 percent tax credit for productions to shoot in the country. IndieWire spoke with Goorjian about the making of the film and how an Oscar nomination would literally change Armenia and its global position in filmmaking and culture. “Amerikatsi” is now screening for Academy members and had a limited U.S. release in the fall from Variance Films. Voting for Oscar nominations closes on Tuesday, January 16.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

IndieWire: “Amerikatsi” marks the first time Armenia has been seriously considered for an Oscar nomination. What made the difference this time?

Michael A. Goorjian: Going into even making the film, I always thought it would be a great opportunity for Armenia because there haven’t been many films that have come out of the country, and so I’ve always looked towards the possibility of at least having it be Armenia’s submission. We really tried our best to make a film that was more universal in theme. It’s about a lot of Armenian history and Armenian culture, but I wanted to make a film that you didn’t have to be Armenian to appreciate.

Armenian films don’t have a large audience in the U.S., possibly because they often revolve around the genocide and audiences are wary of getting what they think might be a history lesson.

That’s something we fought against in promoting the film. The genocide is an incredibly important subject matter, but Armenian culture has been overshadowed by it. As an Armenian trying to drag my non-Armenian friends to see a film about a genocide is not easy. I wanted to make something that was not about the genocide but also pushing in the opposite direction in making something that was just enjoyable to watch.

If the movie gets an Oscar nomination, what would that mean for Armenia?

In my view, if France gets nominated, if England gets nominated, it’s great for the country, but if Armenia was to get a nomination, I can’t think of another way that myself as an artist can actually make a positive impact on the country. It would be huge, to be honest, because a lot of what Armenia suffers from, most people don’t know what Armenia is, or where it is, or that it exists, and that’s part of what the country has struggled from, being unknown. As a filmmaker, I really wanted to do my best to help elevate the awareness of the country. A nomination would make a huge impact in terms of helping develop the film industry there, for people to see it as a viable place to shoot films, the talent that exists there. Not that this is a showcase, but I’ve already had filmmakers ask me about the score.

For many Westerners, their knowledge of Armenia stops after the Soviet takeover and is limited, probably, in recent years to the recently ceased territorial conflict with Azerbaijan.

I’ve had a difficult time getting films made in the U.S. Armenia was an opportunity to get to make a truly independent film where you can explore and try things. Not just for me, but for other filmmakers to see that possibility [is critical]. It’s a business for sure, and people want to make money, but as an art form, it’s a way to kind of explore and try things and find new voices. Seeing Armenia as an opportunity, as a place where independent film can get made, I think that’s an important thing for me.

Did you always intend to play the lead?

I went through a period at the beginning of trying to get more name actors to play the role. Raising funds is often based on your attachments. But I gained the trust of the people who helped put the film together, which included the Armenian government and the Ministry of Culture.

How did you assemble the rest of the cast? Some of your actors actually ended up joining the military in the conflict with Azerbaijan after filming.

The majority of the cast is based in Armenia or Armenians from the homeland. The actor who played Tigran [Hovik Keuchkerian], he’s probably the only other, he’s a Spanish Armenian actor who was on a show called “Money Heist” and is pretty well known in Spain. And then the two Russian actors essentially I went with the two Russian actors are very similar to their roles. Nelli Uvarova [who plays Sona] is well known in Russia, but she’s also half-Armenian, much like the character that she plays. Basically, she told me her mom is exactly who her character was, but they’re well-known actors in Russia, but also because of the conflict there, they’ve fled. They’re unfortunately not able to be in where they grew up. They’ve fled the country. So it’s an international cast. Armenia is interesting in that the majority of Armenians don’t live in the country.

Did you direct in English, or speak Armenian and Russian with your actors and crew?

I don’t speak Russian. I speak a little bit of Armenian, but there are many Armenian dialects, and there are two major dialects, eastern and western, so what they speak in Armenia is quite different from what they speak in the U.S. or Europe. I mostly directed in English with translators, but we shot the film in 2020. We shot in March in 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, so that was kind of crazy. I ended up being stuck in Armenia for seven months. By the time I left, I understood a lot more eastern Armenian than when I arrived.

We began shooting in March, and we were about a week into shooting and we had to shut down like the rest of the world. We spent probably at least two months in quarantine, and then because of the travel bans, the actor who played Tigran had to go back to Spain, the Russians went back, I stayed in Armenia, but over the next five, six months, we were able to continue shooting pieces of the film. Once we finished, the war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and members of our cast and crew went in fought in that war. For an American director, that’s pretty wild to experience.

Tell me more about this government-supported tax credit now available for filmmakers who shoot in Armenia, and your film’s relationship to it.

[Armenia is] a post-Soviet country that recently went through a revolution that really more westernized the government. After leaving the Soviet Union … it’s the most democratic country around. As a filmmaker and the company that I worked with over there, we’re trying to do our best to show them the importance of filmmaking and how it can help a country and help their people. There have been other co-productions in the past 10 years or so, but mostly with Europe. The attempt was to both prove to the country itself what’s possible, but then also showcase for other filmmakers what’s possible.

With the film and the success of the film at festivals, and now with being shortlisted, I think it’s helped the government of Armenia see the importance and the value of film in terms of helping a small country. So that’s what people of the production company that I worked with in Armenia helped sort of spearhead, the idea of creating this tax incentive, which many other countries have. And Armenia, despite the fact that there’ve been issues with Azerbaijan, and mostly because of the war in Russia and Ukraine, there’s been an influx of a lot of business coming into Armenia. So the economy there has skyrocketed. There’s a lot of tech in Armenia now. It’s thriving, and there’s so much going on there, and film just fits into it. And so that’s the idea behind the tax incentive — to help entice other filmmakers and other production companies to come there and film in Armenia.

https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/amerikatsi-michael-goorjian-oscar-armenia-1234942381/

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.