The Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, met today, Thursday 14 December 2023, with the Minister of Defence of Armenia Suren Papikyan, who conducted an official visit to Greece.

During the meeting at the Ministry of National Defence, a Cooperation Agreement between Greece and Armenia in the Military-Technical sector was signed.

The Deputy Minister of National Defence Ioannis Kefalogiannis, the Deputy Chief of HNDGS Vice Admiral Fragiskos Leloudas  HN as representative of the Chief of HNDGS General Konstantinos Floros, the Chief of HNGS Vice Admiral Ioannis Drymousis HN, the Deputy Chief of HAGS Lt General Andreas Koronakis as representative of the Chief of HAGS, the CoS of HAFGS Major General (Pilot) Ioannis Birbilis as representative of the Chief of HAFGS, the General Director of GDDIA Vice Admiral (ret.) Aristidis Alexopoulos HN, the Ambassador of Armenia in Athens Mr Tigran Mkrtchyan, as well as other members of the two delegations also participated in the talks.

After the meeting, the Greek Minister of National Defence made the following statement:

“Honourable Minister, dear friend, it is a great joy and honour to welcome you today in Athens. In recent years, I have visited Yerevan twice and I have to say that today’s visit reflects on the strong bonds of friendship between Greece and Armenia, but also between our two peoples.

We are united by tragic memories, memories of the tragedies that our people experienced throughout their history. The great Armenian community in Greece, a very significant community, but also the Greek community in Armenia, operate as bridges of friendship, mutual understanding and cooperation between our countries.

Furthermore, our cooperation stretches beyond our bilateral relations, to the level of the trilateral relations between Greece-Armenia and the Republic of Cyprus.

Our meeting today coincides with a period of great tensions. The situation in Caucasus on which you were kind enough to brief me, the developments at the Ukrainian front, the Middle East, create many hotbeds of instability in the region.

Against that instability, Greece maintains a solid view. We support dialogue on the basis of the principles of the UN Charter and the International Law.

We support the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of all states and we are steadily and steadfastly against any attempt for a violent new border demarcation.

We condemn terrorism, we fight for the protection of the non-combatants, we support all peoples’ right to live in their ancestral homes.

We support the recommencement of negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia with the participation of the European Union, so that conditions of peace and security for the peoples of the region can be achieved. Naturally, as it is expected of us, we stand by the side of the Armenian people.

I also briefed my friend the Minister on the latest developments between Greece and Turkey, following the High Level Cooperation Council (HLCC).

I would like to reiterate that we are well aware that the situation cannot change in a matter of days. Moreover, we are also well aware that Turkey’s views on bilateral issues remain structurally antithetical to the stipulations of the International Law.

We certainly do not turn a blind eye, we do not expect our differences to be solved in a single visit.

Our goal is to preserve tranquility and sincere communication, but always steadfastly focused on International Law, the Law of the Sea and our sovereign rights.

I would like to refer, as a point of reference, to the signing of our Agreement on the Military-Technical sector. A sector constituting a high priority for the Hellenic Government.

As I had the opportunity to explain to our Armenian visitor and friend, we are establishing a new system of innovation and enhancement of the Hellenic Defence Industry, but we would like, in this context, to cooperate with friendly countries, which wish to enhance their defence with innovative solutions, which can be produced in our region.

Therefore, we stand ready to cooperate with friendly countries, with allied countries, like Armenia. Moreover, we are 100% ready to maintain this increasing momentum to the mutual benefit of our countries.

Honourable Minister, I warmly thank you for visiting Athens today. I would like to express my certainty that our relations and our defence cooperation will become even stronger, because they are founded on the solid ground of our bonds of friendship and solidarity between our peoples.

Welcome to Athens”.

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