Azernews.Az

YEREVAN – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has said close relations with Iran dismiss allegations that the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh has a religious slant.

He claimed in an interview with Ukraine’s Profile magazine that efforts are being made within the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to present the Karabakh problem as an inter-religious dispute.

"This can be easily proved wrong, because Armenia enjoys very good relations with Iran."

Sargsyan believes that Iran exercises "a very weighed-up approach" to the conflict.

He said Yerevan has a number of reasons to cooperate with Tehran. The two countries are maintaining relations mainly in the fields of economics and humanitarian aid, Sargsyan noted.

"Iran is one of our most important neighbors. It so happened that we are able to communicate with the outside world only through Georgia and Iran. In the early 1990s, when the situation was tense in Georgia, prices in the Armenian market would have surged four or five-fold if it wasn’t for our road to Iran. Moreover, Iran is flush with energy resources, while Armenia lacks such resources. We are cooperating very closely in this area."

Armenia has been sidelined from large-scale projects being implemented in the region due to occupying part of neighboring Azerbaijan’s territory.