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YEREVAN. – Karabakh people should completely realize their right to self-determination, said Armenian Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov during a meeting with the Greek Ambassador to Armenia Ioannis Taghis.

Vice President of the parliament highly assessed the traditional friendly relations between Armenia and Greece and stated a solid contribution of the Ambassador Ioannis Taghis to further developing those relations. The parties stated that the people of Armenia and Greece share many similarities.  In recent years the inter-parliamentary works have become more active; the field of cooperation has expanded.

Speaker of the Armenian-Greek relations assessed the bill adopted by the Greek Parliament that penalizes the denial of the Armenian Genocide, as well as the statement made by the Parliament of Armenia that condemns the genocide of the Greeks and Assyrians who had lived in the Ottoman Turkey, as critical.

The Vice-Speaker attributed importance to the statement recently made by the Parliament of Karabakh on recognizing and condemning the genocide of the Pontic Greeks in the Ottoman and Kemalist Turkey. The Ambassador Ioannis Taghis thanked the Armenian parliament for adopting the declarations unanimously and for officially commemorating May 19 as the Pontian Greeks’ genocide day.

The parties discussed the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. Sharmazanov expressed his satisfaction for a balanced position of the OSCE member Greece on that issue. He stressed that the Armenian side has always been and remains committed to its position to settle the issue peacefully and within the OSCE Minsk Group. The ambassador Ioannis Taghis supported that viewpoint and noted that the recent meetings between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan were encouraging in that respect. In this context, the Vice President said “the Nagorno-Karabakh people should completely exercise their right of self-determination. The holding of the referendum by the Nagorno-Karabakh people, the exercise of that right is inscrutable, as the world goes that way. The Artsakh people have the same right of disposing their own destiny through referendum, as people of any other country.”

During the meeting, the parties also referred to the war that took place in April. In that context, the Vice President referred to the visit of the Greece MPs to Armenia and Artsakh, assessing that step as a manifestation of democratic principles and a sign of friendship and loyalty.

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