We are more than just historically friendly nations, this is a true brotherhood.
The Foreign Minister of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian, stated the aforementioned in his address at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece.
“I would like to thank for this opportunity of meeting with such respectful audience and share with you our views with regard to the Armenian-Greek partnership, the regional issues, and some of the Armenian foreign policy priorities,” he said, in particular. “I am glad to be back to Athens, one of the cradles of civilization, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, an ancient city whose legacy still widely shapes the cultural and spiritual values of the modern Europe. Armenian nation has embraced and contributed to this, leaving alongside with the Greek people our footprints in the world history.
“The relations between our people go deep into the history. There are references to the Armenian people in the works of Herodotus and Plato. Xenophon of Athens passed through Armenia in the fifth century B.C. and called it ‘a prosperous land.’ The ancient Greek geographers such as Strabo and Ptolemy knew well the indigenous people of our region and the boundaries of their states. It would be good for those who try to rewrite the history and make cultural and territorial claims nowadays to familiarize themselves with the works of these great scientists.
“We shared also with the Greek people some of the most tragic pages of the recent past, we both suffered from the genocide and crimes against humanity, defended shoulder-to-shoulder our right for life and stood by each other in the difficult times. There is no doubt that we are more than just historically friendly nations, this is a true brotherhood.
“Twenty-five years ago the diplomatic relations were established between the newly independent Republic of Armenia and the Hellenic Republic. The regular high level visits gave new impetus to our partnership and outline the main areas of cooperation. In this regard I would like to highlight the visits of President Serzh Sargsyan to Greece in 2016 and the visit of President Karolos Papoulias to Armenia in 2014. We meet frequently with the Foreign Minister and my good friend Nikos Kotzias in different international formats. Recently I hosted Minister Kotzias in Yerevan and now I have the pleasure to be in Athens to continue our discussions.
“In the past quarter of a century, we managed to develop robust interstate relations and solid bilateral agenda ranging from the active political dialogue to the partnership in different fields of mutual interest. We have developed a solid legal framework that could serve as a basis for the further enhancement of our ties. We closely work in the framework of international organizations. We explore the possibilities of cooperation between sizable Armenian and Greek Diasporas for the benefit of our nations.”
