VIDEO: Expert on the Phone Call Between Pashinyan and Erdogan

Today, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Armenian Prime Minister congratulated the Turkish President on the occasion of Kurban Bayram, while the Turkish President congratulated the Armenian Prime Minister for the upcoming Vardavar, the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ.

Auroranews.am spoke with expert Ruben Melkonyan to understand what conclusions can be drawn from this phone conversation.

Melkonyan stated that he has two observations regarding this topic. The first is that this phone call is a matter of diplomatic etiquette, where the leaders of two countries use state or religious holidays to extend congratulations. Such incidents have occurred before. The expert recalled that Armenia's first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, attended the funeral of Turkey's President Turgut Özal in 1993.

The second point the expert sees is an imitation, a step to make the process of improving Armenian-Turkish relations appear more convincing, which cannot be considered any serious progress in reality.

It should not be forgotten that Erdogan is considered one of the most hardline and aggressive political figures, and anti-Armenian propaganda has a clear place in his rhetoric. We should not forget his speeches and words of hatred towards Armenians. It would be naive to expect that Erdogan is sending a positive message or taking a positive step toward Armenia. I see this as a conversation between the victorious and threatening Turkey and the defeated Armenian leader, and it cannot promise any positive outcome,” he noted in our conversation.

Melkonyan also mentioned that if he is not mistaken, the last time there was a phone conversation involving the first faces of the countries was between Serj Sargsyan and Abdullah Gül. It should also be noted that the message does not clarify who initiated the phone call.