The Odyssey of a Misunderstanding: Arthur Ghazinyan and Ruben Melikyan Clarify the New Facebook 'Bolola'

The odyssey of a misunderstanding has turned into a significant story on the Armenian Facebook platform, often referred to as 'Bolola.' Vahagn Aleksanyan, the public relations coordinator of the Civil Contract party, published a photo on his Facebook page featuring images of Arthur Ghazinyan, the president of the 'One Armenia' party, and Ruben Melikyan, co-founder of the Legal Path NGO, alongside a text purported to be their words.

Vahagn Aleksanyan wrote, 'Guys, I would die for your soul, but if you're sending such text to these people through some group or chat, at least mention who said it first. Otherwise, it creates an awkward situation. Update: Ruben Melikyan has refuted that he said such a thing. I remind you, I took both pictures from the Facebook page of the Fifth Channel.'

Arthur Ghazinyan subsequently made a Facebook post noting that one of the television channels (Channels 5-8) had published one of his Facebook posts but had placed it alongside an image of Ruben Melikyan instead of his own. 'Some media mistakenly published my post with Ruben Melikyan's picture, and the 'alliance' celebration has begun. Mediocre figures eagerly share this image with the commands given by the KCPS (Khrakotapakan Central Committee),' he wrote. 'But how little it takes for the fools to be happy.'

Ruben Melikyan also commented on the issue in a Facebook post, saying, 'To the bunch searching for a black cat in a dark room, I announce that the quoted words are not mine.' Later, he posted again, stating, 'The offensive part is that, for example, the thought of losing a phone crossed the mind of a sports international champion, who thinks that Arthur Ghazinyan and I lack the capacity to come up with our own thoughts and need someone to 'give us a text.' With your fables, go watch the cartoon 'The Tale of the Mirror.' I remind you that the quoted words are not mine but those of Arthur Ghazinyan. I demand the media outlet that made the mistake, Channel 5, to correct it and publicly inform about it,' he concluded, presenting a screenshot of a post by Aram Manukyan, the former deputy mayor of Ajapnyak district.

Vahagn Aleksanyan also noted in his Facebook post that it’s not about a mechanical error or mere confusion but that the same text was cut and attributed to another.

We present the screenshots of this correspondence from the Facebook pages of Vahagn Aleksanyan, Arthur Ghazinyan, and Ruben Melikyan.