Erdogan did not say that “Pashinyan was aware of Azerbaijan’s actions”։ Fake news in the Armenian media

The Armenian media, referring to the Russian-language channel of TRT in Telegram, claimed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists that “Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was aware of Azerbaijan’s “anti-terrorist operation”.

This information was shared by a number of Armenian media outlets: aysor.am, tert.am, panorama.am, etc.

Reviewing the Turkish media, the Fact Investigation Platform revealed that while answering the questions of journalists at the “Turkish House” in New York, Erdogan referred to the Azerbaijani attack in Nagorno Karabakh, but did not make such a statement.

FIP.am did not find the words attributed to Erdogan in any other Turkish media, and in particular in the English version of TRT.

According to Turkish sources, Erdogan said:

“First, it is important to note that Pashinyan’s participation in my swearing-in ceremony was important. We have already expressed our gratitude to him in this regard. This latest event is not related to Pashinyan. It is not related to the state of Armenia. It is related to a certain group of Armenian militants in Karabakh. Their attempt to hold presidential elections was a serious concern for both Pashinyan and Azerbaijan because Azerbaijan saw this event as a “tendency to axe the ongoing process”. In addition, the attempt by these groups to kill our brothers in Karabakh took the events in a more dangerous direction. Warnings were issued, but despite all warnings, these groups did not stop their activities. After this, Azerbaijan took steps. And they carried out the military operation there without delay. After the operation, I was informed that they had hit about 90 important targets and had completed their work. They also demanded to ensure the handing over of all equipment, ammunition and withdrawal from the designated locations. Defense Minister of our country Yashar Guler held talks, and today I also met with my colleague President Ilham Aliyev. He thanked me for my speech at the UN General Assembly and said: “Now those groups will not be able to breathe in those areas. We have completed our operation, there are no more problems.”

Thus, based on one Telegram post, the Armenian media attributed a statement to the President of Turkey regarding the Prime Minister of Armenia, which he did not make.

Nane Manasyan