Speaker of Parliament meets with President of Greece

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan held a meeting on November 6 with President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos during the latter’s official visit to Armenia.

The Speaker was happy to note that the relations between Armenia and Greece are on a high level and in addition to the relations between the states the Armenian and Greek peoples have great sympathy and brotherly feelings for one another for many centuries, the parliament’s press service said.

Mirzoyan mentioned that the Greek Parliament recognized the Armenian Genocide in 1996, and in 2014 it passed a law on criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide, and that the Armenian Parliament has recognized the Pontic Greek and Assyrian Genocide. In addition to cultural, economic and political ties, Mirzoyan attached great importance to cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries and noted the need to boost inter-parliamentary contacts.

The Speaker told President Pavlopoulos that during his visit to Cyprus he talked with the Cypriot Speaker of Parliament about the possible Armenia-Greece-Cyprus trilateral parliamentary format, and that the topic was also discussed during a meeting with the Greek Speaker of Parliament in Strasbourg.

Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan said very few countries are left to yet ratify the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Armenia and the EU, and of them being Greece, adding that Armenia also expects Greece’s support around the visa liberalization dialogue.

President of Greece Prokopis Pavlopoulos thanked for the reception and assured that very soon his country will ratify the CEPA, after which they expect the relations between Armenia and Greece, as well as other EU countries, to further deepen.

“We must make efforts and expand our relations,” the Greek President said, noting that the Armenian and Greek genocides are the tragic chapters which also unite the two countries.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan