Ermenihaber.am’s Chief Editor Opens Up: Hraparak

The Armenian public received another update from Erdogan yesterday regarding his conversation with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. While returning from the G20 summit in Rome, Erdogan told reporters that during his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, he mentioned that positive steps are currently being taken in the South Caucasus, and that Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev is determined to continue those positive steps. He also stated that Aliyev had a conversation with Pashinyan about the establishment of a platform for six in the region.

It's intriguing that the Armenian public learned about this conversation from ermenihaber.am, a site primarily aimed at a Turkish-speaking audience. According to those involved in its creation, the site was established during the presidency of Serzh Sargsyan amid Armenian-Turkish football diplomacy, to convey beneficial information and messages to the Turkish audience and authorities. The editor of the site at that time was Mikayel Nazaryan, an employee of the Public Relations and Information Department, which now operates under the Prime Minister’s Office, and a Turkologist by profession.

This raises the question of why the topic of the Aliyev-Pashinyan confidential phone call is being reported by a government institution's media outlet. Is this a deliberate leak organized by the authorities, or yet another evidence of the ruling propaganda machine's disarray and unmanageability? The mere fact that we learn about this latest contact not from, say, the Prime Minister or his spokesperson, or at least from “Armenpress” or H1 news, but instead from Erdogan and foreign news outlets is already a scandal. This implies that the current government continues to hold separate negotiations with the enemy behind closed doors without informing the public, and we are left to expect another surprise “document,” as “whatever is needed is being negotiated.” Perhaps this information is being released to gauge public sentiment.

These questions were directed to the chief editor of ermenihaber.am, Mikayel Nazaryan. He stated: “I act as the chief editor of ermenihaber.am and view the issue strictly from a professional standpoint. Our publication’s material is linked to Erdogan. In other words, for us, it’s not yet credible; we are fulfilling our duty to present news. We must wait for developments; whether there will be official confirmation or not, we can then discuss it, but at this moment, I can only address it as a Turkologist. That too, through reference to Turkey’s Anadolu News Agency, which cited Erdogan’s statement.”

The spokesperson of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Vahan Hunanian, has also touched upon the issue, briefly commenting to “Azatutyun” that any format of regional cooperation can be effective if it is based on developments that indicate positive trends in the relationships among the involved countries.

Nevertheless, why is a state media outlet reporting while the government remains silent? Nazaryan reiterated: “Since I am the author of the project, the idea of creating the site stemmed from the information landscape at that time, wherein information about Turkey was received indirectly, either from Azerbaijani Russian-language sites or directly from Russian ones. There was no direct transfer from the primary Turkish public sources. I initiated the idea purely for professional reasons. In other words, it was not created to serve state needs or official, state messages. Naturally, as a platform afforded to Turkologists by the state, it was beneficial that it was encouraged and funded, but it did not serve the purpose you are suggesting.”

He also mentioned that the aim was to have a purely professional platform, engaging intellectuals from the Turkish sphere, who may hold opposing views or even be against us, to foster open dialogue.

We inquired if they collaborate with the Foreign Ministry regarding messages. After a slight hesitation, Mikayel Nazaryan replied that there isn’t intensive collaboration but he added that there are contacts, especially in the periods leading up to and following April 24. However, in general, there is no collaboration and they see no need for it. “Because if we need something, we approach them; if they need something, they approach us,” he stated. As for collaboration with Mane Gevorgyan, he said: “No, there is only a working relationship, it is not in the professional domain.”