Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan on Monday refuted a claim made by a Turkish presidential aide suggesting that the Armenian government has asked for humanitarian assistance from Turkey in the fight against the coronavirus.
Presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın on Saturday said nearly 100 countries asked for help from Turkey, including Israel and Armenia.
Turkey has already sent medical supplies to several European and African countries to assist in their struggle against the pandemic.
Naghdalyan said the cooperation with Turkish officials only involved bringing 73 Armenian citizens stranded in Turkey back home.
“The cooperation with the Turkish side occurred exclusively within this framework, and outside of this, Armenia has not asked for any other assistance,” she said at a press conference.
“It is noteworthy that the framework of possible cooperation between the two countries is significantly limited, as a result of the ongoing land blockade imposed on Armenia by Turkey and the absence of diplomatic relations, and thus it requires genuine goodwill and trust building,” she added.
Armenia had 1,039 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease, caused by the novel coronavirus, and a death toll of 14 as of Monday, according to the Worldometer website.