Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and visiting Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias held a joint press conference today in Yerevan. Here’s an unofficial translation of a statement released by Mnatsakanyan’s office on the press conference.

Zohrab Mnatsakanyan made the following opening remarks before fielding reporters’ questions.

 I would like to greet my good colleague, friend, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic Nikos Dendias, who is on a working visit to Armenia.

Today we had an effective, constructive discussion on our comprehensive agenda, both in an expanded and private format, emphasizing our mutual commitment to maintaining the dynamics of political dialogue and further expanding and strengthening cooperation.

Our relations have traditionally been marked by warmth and friendship, based on the centuries-old brotherly ties between the Armenian and Greek peoples. Cooperation between our two friendly countries is developing dynamically, including defense, trade, education, science, culture, tourism and a number of other important areas.

Armenia-Greece relations have a key role to play in cooperation and mutual support in the international arena within the framework of multilateral standards. It is very possible that our countries have consistent approaches to many issues on the international agenda.

Armenia, as a leader in the prevention of genocide and crimes against humanity, builds on Greece's consistent efforts in this regard.

Our bilateral relations are strengthened in the context of the Armenia-EU partnership. We also have close cooperation in the field of peacekeeping.

The close cooperation between our countries is also going on in the Armenia-Greece-Cyprus trilateral dimension, which aims to promote peace, stability, prosperity through political dialogue and cooperation between our countries.

Dear colleagues, our meeting takes place in a situation when our compatriots in Artsakh are facing an existential threat, and in this regard, I would like to express my special thanks to my colleague for visiting Armenia at this important time and expressing his solidarity with the Armenian people.

Our regions, the Eastern Mediterranean and the South Caucasus, are currently facing the same threat given Turkey's expansionist policies.

The instigator of the large-scale aggression unleashed by the military-political leadership of Azerbaijan against the civilian population of Artsakh since September 27 is Turkey, which is directly involved in its implementation, not only by its military participation, but also by the involvement of foreign armed terrorists under his service.

Despite the ministerial statement issued on October 10 on the ceasefire and the strengthening of that regime, Azerbaijan continued its hostilities, striking at a military facility in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. And yesterday Stepanakert, the capital of the Artsakh Republic, was again shelled.

Given all this, Azerbaijan clearly shows that it not only refuses to implement the ceasefire confirmed by the joint statement of the foreign ministers, but also seeks to expand the geography of the conflict by openly instigating Turkey, already launching an open aggression against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia. Turkey is behind the decisions of the Azerbaijani side, but the Azerbaijani leadership will bear all the responsibility for the irreversible military-political consequences of these actions.

The large-scale hostilities in Azerbaijan deliberately target the civilian population of Artsakh, without distinguishing between the civilian population from military facilities in that genocidal policy.

More than 32 civilians have been killed and more than 106 were injured, 86 of them seriously, in operations carried out by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces and their supporting forces.

Only after the October 10 announcement, as a result of the Azerbaijani actions, 6 civilian casualties were registered, four of which were shot by an Azerbaijani subversive group, and two by artillery shelling. The war crimes of Azerbaijan are documented by the same criminals who spread on the Internet, glorifying their actions, including the humiliating behavior towards the captives և murders.

Due to the Azerbaijani aggression, the number of forcibly displaced people has sharply increased.

It is difficult to imagine how much damage was done to the vital civil infrastructure of Artsakh.

The biggest threat in terms of regional security and stability in the future is the irreversible decision of the Azerbaijani leadership to turn their country into a zone of influence of Turkey, a hotbed of international terrorist groups.

Exporting armed terrorists and extremists to other regions is one of the tools of the current Turkish government's expansionist policy. We have witnessed the destructive consequences of this policy in other regions, such as Syria, Libya, Iraq, the Eastern Mediterranean, and now in the South Caucasus.

In this regard, I would like to reaffirm our position on the developments in the Mediterranean, express Armenia's unconditional support and solidarity with Greece, Cyprus, and once again call on Turkey to respect international law, to suspend all operations in the exclusive economic zones of Greece and Cyprus.