Sabag: Damascus highly assesses Yerevan`s balanced policy on Syrian crisis

ArmInfo. Armenian Ambassador to Syria Arshak Poladyan met with the chairman of the Syrian People's Council Hammoud al-Sabag.

As the press service of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told ArmInfo, at the meeting were present members of the Syrian-Armenian parliamentary friendship group.  Sabag noted that Syria highly appreciates the balanced policy Armenian side on the Syrian crisis on its entire length.

Referring to the Armenian-Syrian relations, he qualified them as having deep historical roots, but at the same time permanently developing. The head of the legislature noted that Armenians have always been an inseparable part of Syria and made a significant contribution to the economy, culture and politics of the country, including as parliamentarians.

According to Sabag, parliamentary diplomacy has great potential from the point of view of developing bilateral relations and the parliamentarians of Armenia and Syria should use this potential, and first of all through the friendship group.

In turn, Poladyan noted that the situation in Syria is always in the center of attention of Armenia, and based on friendly Armenian-Syrian relations it was decided to ensure the continuous work of the diplomatic missions of Armenia in Damascus and Aleppo. According to him, Armenia, if possible, tries to be useful to the friendly Syrian people and for this purpose, on the instruction of the Armenian leader and with the assistance of the Russian side, humanitarian aid was sent to Syria several times.

Touching upon bilateral relations, the ambassador recalled that Syria is among the first states with which Armenia signed a memorandum on the establishment of diplomatic relations. "A serious regulatory framework has been formed between the two states over the past quarter century, including more than 60 documents covering different spheres." Cooperation with Syria is of great importance for Armenia, "the Armenian diplomat noted.

At the same time, Poladyan stated that the Syrian people played an exceptional role in the fate of Armenian refugees who escaped massacre in Ottoman Empire. According to him, the Syrian people showed inestimable attitude to the Armenians, who miraculously survived the Genocide more than 1 st century ago in the Ottoman Empire. During the conversation, the interlocutors expressed satisfaction with the last visit of the Armenian Minister of Economy to Syria and expressed the hope that the agreements reached during the visit will form the basis for further effective cooperation.