Eduard Sharmazanov meets with National Defence Minister of Greece in Athens
On May 22, Deputy Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly, Eduard Sharmazanov, who is in Athens for a working visit, had a meeting with the National Defence Minister of Greece Panos Kammenos. The sides expressed satisfaction with the present high-level military and political cooperation. Eduard Sharmazanov positively assessed the fact that the officers of the RA Armed Forces are given an opportunity to get trained in the Hellenic Republic. Mr. Sharmazanov noted that issues regarding the security for both Armenia and Greece are considered priorities. He underlined that Turkey is a real threat for the region. “Turkey does not only deny the Armenian Genocide, but has illegally kept Armenia under blockade for 23 years and has forcibly occupied one third of Cyprus,” the Armenian parliament official noted. Eduard Sharmazanov condemned the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and added that Turkey was the only country that during those days was openly supporting Azerbaijan. He informed the Greek Minister about the Azerbaijani barbarities towards the Armenian soldiers, as well as the peaceful population, which to his conviction were committed in the style of ISIS. “The tortures of the civilians by Azerbaijan are considered as bad manifestation of military crime,” Eduard Sharmazanov stated. Mr Kammenos, in turn, highlighted the strengthening and rapprochement of the Armenian-Greek relations. He expressed gratitude to the RA National Assembly for the statement unanimously adopted on March 24 of the previous year condemning the Greek Genocide in Ottoman Turkey. The National Defence Minister of Greece has stressed that the Nagorno Karabakh conflict should be settled exclusively through peaceful means. He considered inadmissible any attempt of the military solution of the problem. At the end of the meeting Eduard Sharmazanov awarded Panos Kammenos the RA NA Speaker's Memorial Medal for his significant contribution to the strengthening and developing of the Armenian-Greek bilateral ties. On the same day Eduard Sharmazanov and Panos Kammenos visited Syntagma Square and laid a wreath at the Unknown Soldier’s Monument.
