Styopa Safaryan Issues Statement Regarding Wikileaks Materials

The Chairman of the Public Council, Styopa Safaryan, has issued a statement, which we present below.

  “FOR WIDESPREAD DISTRIBUTION AND PUBLICATION  Clarifications from Anahit Bakhshyan and Styopa (Stepan) Safaryan for the public and the media.

In recent days, several electronic media outlets have referenced a report from the US State Department published on the Wikileaks website as part of their own 'investigation' into the events of March 1, 2008. This includes the cable 08YEREVAN179_a (https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08YEREVAN179_a.html), in which the names of National Assembly Heritage faction members Anahit Bakhshyan and Styopa (Stepan) Safaryan are mentioned among other politicians.

It should be reminded that from the early morning of that fateful day for the Republic of Armenia, citizens' calls indicated that first the Heritage faction MP Anahit Bakhshyan (from 9:30 AM) and then her colleagues—Styopa Safaryan, Zarouhi Postanjyan, Vardan Khachatryan, Armen Martirosyan, and Larisa Alaverdyan (after 11:30 AM)—were near the French Embassy, standing between police forces and protesters, attempting to prevent clashes and alleviate tensions caused by the unlawful actions of the Armenian police and other power structures in Freedom Square earlier that morning.

During that time, various rumors were circulating among the people gathered near the French Embassy regarding a 'deceased child' or 'deceased citizens' (videos are available online), further aggravating the gathered crowd, which was being urged to disperse by police forces.

When the mediated or direct negotiations between then-President Robert Kocharyan and opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan failed, the public and diplomatic missions accredited in Armenia were informed about the situation and developments by representatives of forces playing a key role in the political processes.

Communications on that day between Heritage faction MPs Styopa Safaryan and Anahit Bakhshyan and the US Charge d’Affaires Joseph Pennington or diplomats from other embassies were regarding these events as eyewitnesses. Specifically, in the context of presenting the situation prevailing in the area adjacent to France Square, discussions included rumors that were stirring public agitation, the accuracy of which we could not verify at that moment; however, we deemed it our duty to relay this information to both law enforcement agencies and the diplomats interested in the situation.

As can be seen in the cited section of the Wikileaks document, the subject material we discussed is referenced precisely as 'according to (circulating) information/REPORTEDLY’. This was emphasized by us.

Websites that quoted and 'analyzed' those portions (www.politik.am, www.7or.am) have, whether knowingly or unknowingly, presented a mistranslation to the public, attempting to create the impression that Anahit Bakhshyan and Styopa Safaryan 'witnessed such deaths' or 'had accurate information about them.'

We urge the public not to fall for misinformation, and we encourage the mentioned websites to utilize professional services when conducting translations.

Anahit Bakhshyan
Styopa Safaryan
Yerevan, January 20, 2020,” he wrote.