O n October 16, the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias paid a working visit to Armenia. Perhaps this was the first high-level visit to Armenia since the launch of Azerbaijan’s aggression against Artsakh. The significance of the visit is more emphasized, as it is carried out during the days of hostilities unleashed by Azerbaijan and Turkey against Artsakh.

This was also stated by the RA Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan during the bilateral meeting: "Your visit takes place in a period full of challenges for us, when our compatriots in Artsakh face the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan, which is accompanied by two new factors: Turkey's active unconditional support to Azerbaijan and its transfer of armed terrorists to the region" [1].

Source: https://www.azatutyun.am/a/30896763.html
Mnatsakanyan -Dendias Meeting

It should be noted that within the context of hostilities, the visit of Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is of both bilateral and regional importance. Today, Greece as well as Cyprus is one of the key countermeasures of restraining and counteracting Turkey’s and Erdogan’s destructive policies and ambitions in various regions and international relations, and perhaps one of the most important, if taking into account that this very anti-Turkish countermeasure is able to use effective restraint mechanisms against Turkey.

The Eastern Mediterranean is the region, where the Western Front, represented by the United States and the EU are united. Hence, it’s here that Washington and Brussels are much more sensitive, and the reactions are incomparably harsh and pragmatic.

In this context, the impact of Armenia-Greece-Cyprus trilateral format has recently become tangible. According to Foreign Minister Mnatsakanyan, “The close cooperation between our countries is also going on in the Armenia-Greece-Cyprus trilateral dimension, the goal of which is to promote peace, stability, prosperity through political dialogue and cooperation between our countries” [2].

At the joint press conference Dendias-Mnatsakanyan, referring to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias stressed that Ankara’s intervention in another conflict is very worrying. Greece has already raised its voice related to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and he was the first to apply to the EU to exclude foreign interference in this issue, as well as to call the sides to negotiation [3].

It should be noted that on September 28, the day after the Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh on September 27, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Greece. On that day, Pompeo-Dendias meeting took place in Thessaloniki, at which issues related to the potential of the US-Greece relations, the easing of tensions in the Western Balkans and in the Eastern Mediterranean were discussed [4].

It’s noteworthy that the information about the intention of the Greek Foreign Minister Dendias’ visit to Armenia became known a few days after the Pompeo-Dendias meeting. The day after the visit of the Greek Foreign Minister Dendias to Armenia, The Hill newspaper published data on the upcoming visit of the RA Foreign Minister Mnatsakanyan to Washington.

Nersesyan said preparations are being made for the foreign minister’s visit ahead of an official announcement expected by Armenia’s Foreign Ministry and for Mnatsakanyan-Pompeo meeting [5]. We believe that within the context of hostilities, through a mediation of the Greek Foreign Minister and as a result of the efforts of the Armenian diplomatic corps it became possible to form Pompeo-Dendias-Mnatsakanyan trilateral political consultative internal pipeline.

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[1] https://www.mfa.am/hy/press-releases/2020/10

[2] https://www.mfa.am/hy/press-conference/2020/

[3] https://www.azatutyun.am/a/30896763.html

[4] https://orbeli.am/hy/post/590/2020-10-01/%D4%

[5] https://thehill.com/policy/defense/521521-armenian