Presidents of Greece and Armenia met in Athens

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“And what does the ‘zero problems with the neighbors' policy mean? Does it mean that all neighbors should obediently do what Turkey wants them to do and satisfy Turkey's preconditions? There are probably neighbors for whom it is quite beneficial, but we are certainly not among them,” added Sarkisian.

“The country which since Armenia's independence has upon different pretexts closed the border and is trying to blackmail my people may not aspire for regional leadership,” asserted the president.

On the Karabakh front, Sarkisian forcefully articulated Armenia's position on the matter and accused Azerbaijan of using military rhetoric and war mongering.

“We have also discussed the prospects of settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh and Cyprus issues. We concurred that each conflict must be solved based on its historical past and specifics. For that very reason we support each other's positions regarding the resolution of these issues and believe that the principles of the right of people for self-determination and territorial integrity are not mutually exclusive,” said Sarkisian during a joint press conference with his Cypriot counterpart, Demetris Christofias.

On his Athens leg of the trip, it was Greek president, Karolos Papoulias who told Sarkisian that the two nations were “butchered” in their past by their common arch-foe. “We were butchered by the same barbarian,” he said, according to the AFP news agency.

Papoulias added that “many things have changed” since the early 20th century when the killings of Armenians and Black Sea Greeks in the Ottoman Empire occurred, and criticized a decades-old arms race with Ankara that has cost Athens billions of euros, reported RFE/RL.

Source: Asbarez Post