President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, called on Turkey to recognise the historical crimes against the Armenians and the Greeks, following his meeting in Yerevan with President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian, on Tuesday.
“Greece would like to convey to Turkey, our friend and neighbour, that it would be in its own interest and it would raise its international standing if it issued a courageous expression of apology for crimes against humanity that its past leaders foolishly committed against the Armenians and the Greeks,” Pavlopoulos said.
He also added that “we Greeks welcome the fact that the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is spreading significantly, culminating in the very recent resolution of the US House of Representatives in the United States.”
He also noted that Greece recognised the genocide in 1996 and established April 24 as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, while in 2014 it outlawed Armenian genocide deniers.
Conversely, he said, in 2015 the Republic of Armenia’s plenary recognised the Genocide of Greeks of Pontus.
The Greek president reiterated that Greece seeks friendship and friendly neighbourly relations with Turkey.
He said Greece supports its accession to the EU, but this implies respecting international law and European legality. He condemned Turkey’s intervention in Syria and reiterated that the Cyprus issue is an international and EU issue.
In an interview earlier to Armenpress, Armenia’s news agency, Pavlopoulos again stressed that Greek-Armenian relations are based on a lasting friendship, mutual understanding and similar histories of suffering.
Sourced from ANA.
