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On October 12 the official visit of the delegation led by RA NA President Hovik Abrahamyan to the Hellenic Republic of Greece began. The delegation comprises of the deputies Hovhannes Margaryan, Gohar Yenokyan, Ruzan Arakelyan, Eduard Sharmazanov, Martin Sargsyan, Arman Sahakyan, Aleksan Petrosyan.

In Athens the President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias received the delegation led by RA NA President.

Greeting the guests the President of the Hellenic Republic highly assessed the centuries-long existing friendly and warm relations between the two countries, which was also conditioned by the historical commonness and resemblance of the destinies. “Both the Armenians, and the Greeks suffered by Turkey,” President Papoulias noted. He expressed regret that until now Turkey had not asked forgiveness from the Armneians for the crimes perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire, as Germany did asking forgiveness from the Jews for the Holocaust committed by the Nazis.

The President of Greece highlighted the NA President’s visit with regards to developing the bilateral cooperation and expressed conviction that the visit of the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan being expected in January would more strengthen the friendly relations of the two countries and would boost the inter-state partnership. He also emphasized the activation of the inter-parliamentary and economic cooperation and in general, the deepening of relations in all spheres.

Touching upon the issue of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, the President of Greece highlighted the solution of the problem through peaceful way within OSCE Minsk Group.

RA NA President Hovik Abrahamyan thanked for the warm reception and noted that since the independence of Armenia firm partnership relations had been formed, which were based on the centuries-long friendship between our peoples. He highly assessed the relations established between Armenia and Greece, which served as an important pledge in different spheres for further development and deepening of cooperation. It was noted that Armenia also highlighted the development of relations with Greece in both bilateral and multilateral formats. The President of the Armenian Parliament stressed that the Armenian-Greek cooperation Armenia observed as an important component in the common context of the European integration policy of our country, taking into account the active involvement of Greece in the European structures. The President of the National Assembly noted that Armenia paid special attention to the development of the relations between the EU member countries and parliaments, and the Eastern Partnership moved to other qualitative plane the cooperation with the European countries, opening new perspectives for Armenia. Hovik Abrahamyan highlighted the enlivening of the bilateral trade-economic ties, noting in this context that their level did not reflect the existing potential for cooperation. The President of the National Assembly noted that Armenia had been consistent with EU in its political commitment to deepen the political dialogue with EU and the gradual economic integration.

In the course of the meeting the sides also touched upon the Armenian-Turkish relations. They discussed a number of issues concerning the Armenian community of Greece, too.

The next meeting of RA NA delegation was with the President of the Parliament of the Hellenic Republic Philippos Petsalnikos.

RA NA President Hovik Abrahamyan thanked for the invitation to visit Greece and for warm reception, noting that Armenia and Greece were traditional friendly countries, and the friendship of their countries was conditioned by the centuries-long commonness of mutual respect, historical common past, spiritual and cultural values and national features. With regards to the further expansion and deepening of the Armenian-Greek inter-state cooperation Hovik Abrahamyan paid special attention to the development of relations between the legislative bodies and its further expansion. In this context he considered necessary the activation of the bilateral visits at different levels between the parliaments of Armenia and Greece, providing their continuous nature. The NA President necessitated the boosting of inter-parliamentary cooperation not only at bilateral plane, but also with the format of multilateral cooperation, in particular, with the European Union. Considering important the experience of Greece in the process of European integration, Hovik Abrahamyan also proposed to discuss the possibilities of the exchange of experience in complying the legislation of Armenia with the European standards.

NA President Hovik Abrahamyan thanked for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and its condemnation by the Greek Parliament in 1996.

The President of the Greek Parliament expressed his gratitude for accepting his invitation and for visiting Greece, and expressed conviction that Hovik Abrahamyan’s visit would promote the deepening of the relations between the two countries and parliaments. He emphasized the development of the inter-parliamentary relations and the activities of the parliamentary friendship groups. To his conviction, the existence of the communities both in Greece and in Armenia greatly promotes the traditional friendship of the two countries. Mr. Petsalnikos highly assessed Armenia’s efforts aimed at deepening the relations with the European Union and welcomed the procedure of Armenia-European Union negotiations. He noted that Greece was constantly next to Armenia, and would do its best to support Armenia in the process of European integration.

The sides highlighted the cooperation over the issues of bilateral importance in the international structures.

At the end of the meeting Hovik Abrahamyan invited his Greek counterpart on an official visit to Armenia. The invitation was gladly accepted.

After the meeting the presidents of the parliaments of the two countries made a statement for the press. Philippos Petsalnikos awarded Hovik Abrahamyan a gold medal of the Greek Parliament.

We’ll note that on the eve RA NA delegation laid a wreath and flowers at the memorial of the Armenian Genocide martyrs in Nea Zmirni.