When does Erdogan mention Pashinyan? Misleading claims in the Russian and Armenian press

The Russian state news agency TASS published information on June 3, according to which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  did not mention the name of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan when listing high-ranking guests at his inauguration.

Pashinyan was among the high-ranking guests attending Erdoğan’s inauguration ceremony in Ankara on June 3.

“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did not mention Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan when listing the other leaders of states and governments attending the inauguration ceremony,” wrote TASS referring to its correspondent in Turkey.

Many Armenian media outlets including news.am,  24news.am, panorama.am, hraparak.am, auroranews.am, pastinfo.am, hayeli.am, oragir.news among others shared this information.

Some time after the information spread, some Armenian media outlets refuted it stating that TASS distorted the information about Pashinyan’s visit to Turkey.

“Erdoğan mentions the names of Pashinyan and other Prime Ministers after the Presidents,” wrote Civic.am attaching a video.

Fact Investigation Platform revealed that the President of Türkiye actually mentioned and thanked Pashinyan for attending his inauguration but not at the official ceremony itself but at the dinner in honor of the leaders who attended the inauguration ceremony.

During the inauguration ceremony on June 3, Erdoğan  welcomed only the Presidents and leaders of governments of several countries, in particular, the leaders of Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and a number of other countries, as well as the Secretary General of NATO.

Erdoğan  also noted from the tribune that there would not be sufficient time to list all the guests and they would have the opportunity to speak later at the dinner in honor of the leaders.

Having already listed the leaders of states and governments at the dinner, Erdoğan also thanked Nikol Pashinyan.

Thus, although Erdogan did not mention Pashinyan during the actual inauguration ceremony, he did so at the official dinner held later thanking the RA Prime Minister, among others.

Nelly Lazaryan