Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan, who is on an official visit to Cyprus, met today with President of the House of Representatives of Cyprus Demetris Syllouris in Nicosia.

In 1975, the House of Representatives of Cyprus became the first in Europe and second in the world to recognize the Armenian Genocide, and in 2015, it unanimously adopted a resolution criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide and declared April 24th as national remembrance day. With the same conviction, on March 24, 2015, the National Assembly of Armenia unanimously adopted a declaration condemning the genocide perpetrated against Pontic Greeks and Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire.

Related: The Assyrian Genocide

The parties expressed willingness to create a parliamentary platform for trilateral cooperation within the scope of the Cyprus-Armenia-Greece partnership.

On behalf of the National Assembly of Armenia, Mirzoyan expressed gratitude to the members of the House of Representatives of Cyprus for ratifying the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement on June 28, 2019.

Touching upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Mirzoyan stated that the status and security of Nagorno-Karabakh are the major priorities for Armenia and that the conflict can't be resolved without the crucial decision of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is the main party to the conflict.

As far as the Cypriot issue is concerned, the Armenian parliamentary speaker reaffirmed Armenia's support to Cyprus.

Demetris Syllouris greeted the delegation of the National Assembly of Armenia and attached importance to the centuries-old historic and cultural ties between Cyprus and Armenia. Attaching importance to the role of the Armenian community of Cyprus in the public and economic life of the country, the destiny of the Melkonian Educational Institute was particularly touched upon.

The efforts for the growth of tourism in both countries and the cooperation between the universities of Cyprus and Armenia were also touched upon.