YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The presidents of Armenia and Lebanon concur that the crises in the Middle East require finding peaceful solutions, President of Lebanon Michel Aoun said after holding talks with Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan.

“We discussed the situation in the Middle East, crises and wars in certain countries of the region, especially in our neighbor Syria. We agreed over the necessity of finding peaceful solutions to the crises and ending the war machine, because violence gives birth to violence and extremism only, the proof of which are the continuing unrests of the last 7 years which began in our region”, the Lebanese president said.

President Aoun mentioned that the issue of Syrian migrants was also discussed, and the need of their return to safe areas of Syria was stressed. “I presented to the President that our country is being pressured in social, economic and security terms, having one and a half million migrants on its territory, with no sufficient international aid measures to take care of their needs. On this occasion we stressed that it is necessary to work to achieve international mutual agreement which will ensure the return of Syrian refugees to safe areas of their country and it will be under the control of the Syrian state”, he said.

President Aoun emphasized the need for strengthening bilateral and international cooperation against terrorism.

The President of Lebanon arrived in Armenia on an official visit on February 21.

English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan