The extensive interview with Ambassador of Armenia to the Federal Republic of Germany Ashot Smbatyan has been published in the July 2019 volume of Behorden Spiegel magazine, which is published in more than 110,000 copies and is the official newspaper of all state institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Below is a short translation of the interview.

In 2017, Armenia signed the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement, and this is a key document for Armenia.

Armenia is a member state of the Eurasian Economic Union and has close ties with the Russian Federation, and Armenia wishes to maintain this special strategic partnership with Russia. At the same time, Armenia has been strengthening its bonds with the USA since independence, and there are many Armenians living in the USA. Armenia also has good relations with China.

Germany was one of the first countries that established diplomatic relations with Armenia in 1991. Germany is one of Armenia’s major economic partners in the EU, and the Ambassador sees great potential for further expansion of economic cooperation.

Touching upon Armenia-Turkey relations, Ashot Smbatyan stated that even though Armenia is ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without preconditions, unfortunately, it seems as though this is not enough for the Turkish government to open the last closed border in Europe.

“There needs to be only a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The security of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh and the status of Artsakh are major priorities. We are talking about 150,000 people. This is why Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan insists that the representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh need to sit around the negotiating table. It is important to find a solution that will be acceptable for the population of Nagorno-Karabakh and for Armenia and Azerbaijan. There must not be winners and losers. It is necessary to talk to Nagorno-Karabakh, not about Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Ambassador stated.