Prime Minister Pashinyan’s Objectionable Statements to Turkish Journalists — By Harut Sassounian

· March 24, 2025

By Harut Sassounian

www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com

I learned this week that the government of Armenia had spent 7.5 million drams (approx. $19,000) for the travel, lodging and meals of 10 Turkish journalists invited to Yerevan to interview Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Fortunately, it is not a large sum, but covering their expenses violates journalistic ethics.

I also learned that prior to the interview, the Prime Minister’s aides took away the Turkish journalists’ cell phones and cameras, so they would not be able to record the interview. The recording was done exclusively by the Prime Minister’s office. This is a very unusual and unacceptable way of treating journalists.

Interestingly, Turkish journalist Farhat Boratav noted that “the booths [at the Yerevan airport] where the Armenian police were sitting were brought from Turkey via Georgia.”

A Turkish reporter inquired about Pashinyan’s frequent comments on the Armenian Genocide. He asked: “I would like you to reflect on the reasons you pay attention to this theme. What are you trying to achieve with it, both among your citizens and diaspora circles?”

Pashinyan responded: “My understanding is that the lessons of history must serve the state interests and future interests of the state, the interests of the Republic of Armenia. And, by the way, according to my understanding, this conversation is ripe both in Armenia and the Diaspora…not only inside Armenia or Armenian circles, but also in the regional sense, because that’s also an issue. What are we utilizing history for? Should historical confrontations become eternal or historical confrontations become a message for us to build a peaceful, collaborative stable future, in the regional sense? I am in favor of the second understanding.”

Another Turkish journalist asked: “You use `internal armenization of genocide.’ I would like to understand, what influence does the genocide issue have now in Armenia-Turkey relations? According to you, is that already a former, past stage, has it been left as a previous issue in terms of Armenia-Turkey relations? And Armenia in the past was conducting a policy, as we know, so that the genocide was accepted by the various countries’ parliaments, etc. Can we say that this policy will no longer be used? Similarly, in the preamble of your Constitution, there are parts where there are the expressions Western Armenia and genocide. If the Constitution is changed in your country, will they not be found in the new Constitution?”

Pashinyan responded by saying that “the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide is not among our foreign policy priorities today.” However, he added, without using the term genocide, “in Armenia and among Armenians, it is an incontestable truth. In other words, directly in our reality, it is not possible to negate or deny it because for all of us it is an undeniable truth, but that is not the issue.” He then minimized the significance of genocide recognition by saying that when far away countries decide to acknowledge it, after the euphoria dies down, the next minute the question becomes, “but what does that decision give us in our relations with our immediate environment? When we have tensions in our immediate environment, how do those tensions benefit our country, our regional stability, peace, etc., and so on.”

During his entire 90-minute interview, Pashinyan used the term genocide only once, whereas a Turkish journalist used the term genocide four times in his question. The rest of the time Pashinyan referred to the genocide as “decision” (6 times), “it” (3 times), “history” (39 times), and “great tragedy” (once).

Pashinyan was wrong when he said that “the period when that great tragedy occurred was a period when there was no Republic of Armenia.” The Prime Minister of Armenia does not seem to know that the Armenian Genocide lasted from 1915 to 1923, during which time, from 1918-1920, there was an independent Republic of Armenia.

It was also very disappointing to hear Pashinyan ask what the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by far away countries gave us. He should know that had it not been for the Diaspora’s decades-long pursuit of the recognition of the Armenian Genocide internationally, no one in the world would have remembered by now that there has been such a genocide — something the Turkish government would have been very pleased with. Going beyond recognition, someday when there is a nationalistic government in Armenia and the right international circumstances materialize, Armenians will pursue the restitution of their losses from the Genocide, including the return of confiscated Armenian properties and occupied territories.

Pashinyan continued by saying that Armenia needs to have peace with its immediate neighbors, not so much with Australia, New Zealand or Brazil. He does not seem to understand that true peace must be based on historical truth and justice, not revisionism and lies. He went on to say, that Turkey should not be a threat to Armenia, just as Armenia should not be a threat to Turkey! The Prime Minister must be living in a make-believe world. I am sure Pres. Erdogan is not spending sleepless nights worrying that Armenia might attack Turkey any minute. He has much more critical issues to worry about.

Pashinyan goes on to deride the concept of historic Western Armenia, by saying that the cities in the Western part of the current Republic of Armenia are Western Armenia. And then, to cover up his concessions of Armenian territories, he makes the ridiculous statement that in this day and age, there are no such things as geographic borders due to social media and the internet which cross all borders.

As expected, the Turkish journalists reported the interview with the Prime Minister from a Turkish perspective, emphasizing that Pashinyan’s “conciliatory approach” about the Genocide issue and his rejection of territorial demands from Turkey are no longer obstacles in Armenia-Turkey relations. However, one particularly scandalous Turkish journalist, CNN Turk’s news director Idris Arkan, standing in front of the Blue Mosque in Yerevan, claimed falsely on Turkish TV that the Persian-built mosque, a historic landmark in Armenia’s capital, was Turkish. He even dared to describe Yerevan as a historic Turkish city. This is how CNN Turk’s news director rewarded Pashinyan for the all-expenses-paid trip to Armenia.