Your trusted source

“Armenia conducts quite an intensive dialogue with its neighboring Iran,” Minister of Defense of Armenia (MOD) Vigen Sargsyan said during today’s visiting session of Valdai Discussion Club held in Yerevan.

“From the first days when Armenia gained independence, Iran has displayed great wisdom and civilization, establishing balanced relations with Armenia and the other countries of the region. Meanwhile Iran has managed to adopt balanced stance on the Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR, Artsakh) conflict always offering its mediation mission and pursuing the principle of not hindering the mediators' mission,” V. Sargsyan said.

In the words of the minister, such a position of Iran drastically contradicts to the one of Armenia’s another neighbor – Turkey.

“Turkey has not only blockaded Armenia by closing the train routes and the state border, which, we think, is anachronism in the 21st century, but also has adopted a pro-Azerbaijani stance over the Karabakh conflict,” V.  Sargsyan added.

The minister noted that by blockading Armenia and closing its state border with our country, Turkey itself “has detached from the South Caucasus region”.

“Despite its close relations with Georgia and brotherly relations with Azerbaijan, today Turkey can hardly be considered a regional player,” V. Sargsyan said.