The Minister of National Defence Panos Kammenos in the context of his official visit to Armenia, he visited the international exhibition of arms and defence technologies “ ArmHiTec 2018”.
Then he met with the Minister of Defence of Armenia Vigen Sargsyan.
The Minister of National Defence stated the following:
“It is with great pleasure that I am visiting Yerevan once again. I visited the international exhibition of arms and defence technologies ‘ArmHiTec’ and I was very impressed. The exhibition is becoming an important event with great potential in the military technology sector. I would like to congratulate the organizers of the successful event.
During my visit in Yerevan, I have had the opportunity to meet with my counterpart Mr. Vigen Sargsyan. We had a broad and sincere exchange of views on matters of common interest, bilateral cooperation and the security challenges and developments in the region.
Greece and Armenia were, are and will always be together. We have common values, a common history, we both had victims during two great genocides, of the Armenian people and the Greek Pontian people.
Our Armed Forces have already achieved a high level of cooperation in a wide range of fields with important activities, characterized mainly by an increased qualitative dimension achieved through synergies in areas of mutual interest.
Armenia and Greece are facing common security challenges and threats that require both a comprehensive approach and understanding, as well as a solid political determination, in order to cope with them effectively.
I always feel privileged and honored to visit Armenia. I feel that I am in a brother’s country. The traditional ties of friendship and the common values we share constitute a strong link connecting our people and a precious heritage of which we can be both proud.
The ties between our nations go back in time. It is exactly these historical and traditional bonds that bring us closer.
These longstanding historical ties were forged in times of persecution of our nations.
Last but not least, I would like to stress that I am totally convinced that the security of our countries is safeguarded by the high level of our Armed Forces and their efficiency, which is further enhanced by international and strong cooperations such as the one developed between our friendly countries.
I was informed by his Excellency Mr. Minister on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and our wish is to find a swift and peaceful solution respecting human rights and international law.”
Answering a question posed by a journalist, the Minister of National Defence said:
“All our neighbours need to understand that Greece and Armenia want to live in peace. We do our best to live in peace, however, we are always ready to defend our sovereignty and international laws.
Our wish for Turkey is to become a European country, respecting international law and human rights. Our wish is to see Turkey approaching the European values, but I am afraid that the recent announcement of President Erdogan and his aspirations for a great Ottoman empire is drawing Turkey away from Europe, away from international law and the international community.
We will continue to do our best to explain to Turkey that we want peace, but we have to remind Turkey that many times during its history – especially during the era of the great Ottoman empire, – they were defeated, similarly, in 1821 they were defeated in Greece.”
