During a very difficult time for Armenia, a delegation from the House of Representatives is visiting Yerevan to express the support and solidarity of Cyprus, officials said.
“Cyprus has a similar history.
“It has undergone similar trials; we know what displacement means.
“What we have all witnessed, the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population from Nagorno-Karabakh, was a tragic image, reminiscent of past centuries, I would say, not of the 21st century, it was not an image of the 21st century,” head of the Cyprus-Armenia Interparliamentary Committee Harris Georgiades told CNA.
He said the country is in a difficult position, and the delegation conveyed Cyprus’s readiness to support Armenia with humanitarian aid, financially and politically, within the EU framework.
The discussions focused on the political, humanitarian, and refugee crisis resulting from the national disaster of the loss of the Artsakh region, as it is known in Armenian, or Nagorno-Karabakh, as it is internationally recognised.
Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan thanked the Cypriot MPs for a newly adopted resolution by the House of Representatives, which condemns Azerbaijan’s large-scale aggression and ethnic cleansing policy against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.
He expressed appreciation for House Speaker Annita Demetriou’s principled speech at the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Dublin on September 28 when she raised the ongoing crimes against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and called on the international community to take urgent action to prevent ethnic cleansing.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan expressed the country’s appreciation “for the principled position and the adoption of supportive resolutions by the Cyprus Parliament, and the readiness of the country to provide support to the people who were forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.”
Both sides emphasised that the emerging situation “demonstrates that political statements alone are not enough, and clear steps are required to prevent the use of violence or the threat of its use, as well as to restrain claims against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Armenia”.
“The UN and international players did not succeed in preventing the disaster in Nagorno-Karabakh in a timely manner, despite Armenia repeatedly warning of the deteriorating situation,” the Armenian Foreign Minister told the Security Council and the UN General Assembly.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan welcomed the visit of the Cypriot parliamentary delegation, expressing his satisfaction with the high level of interparliamentary cooperation and political dialogue between the two countries.
He thanked Cyprus for “the clear positions,” as expressed through the condemnation of the blockade of the Lachin corridor.
He also emphasised the importance of developing economic cooperation between Cyprus and Armenia, as “there are great prospects in this field”.
The Cypriot parliamentary delegation will lay a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial on Tuesday.
