As if we did not already have enough armenians, a new argument surfaced last week between Arman Babajanyan, leader of a small pro-Western political party who supports Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and the former Foreign Affairs Minister of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian.
On April 8, 2025, Babajanyan wrote on his Facebook page that President Robert Kocharyan and Oskanian had declared to American diplomats in July 2007: “They are ready to obstruct the acceptance of the resolution on the Armenian genocide by the American Congress, if Turkey simply opened the border or reactivated the railway Kars-Gyumri. »»
Babajanyan somewhat distorted Oskanian’s words saying that he had declared to the American assistant secretary of state Matthew Bryza at a meeting in Yerevan in 2007: “If Turkey opens its border and normalized its relations, I fly to Washington the next day to convince the Armenian lobbies not to support the recognition of the Armenian genocide”.
Here is what Bryza actually wrote after having met the senior Armenian officials: “Bryza learned that Armenia would interfere in Washington to slow down a resolution of the Congress on the Armenian” genocide “(AGR) that if the Turkish part opened the border, or at least authorized the reopening of the transfrontal railway line … Foreign Oskanian has offered the most concrete articulation to date on what Armenia would consider a sufficiently significant gesture of good faith on the part of Turkey for Armenia to make a serious effort to mitigate the dynamics towards a resolution of the Congress on the Armenian genocide. Oskanian reiterated the persistent skepticism of Armenia with regard to the motivations of Turkey, and its fear that the openings towards Armenia only aim to divert European pressure and to derail a possible resolution of the Congress on the Armenian genocide. Oskanian, however, said that if Turkey opened its border and normalized its relations with Armenia, it would be “on an airplane the next day” for Washington in order to speak with the friends of Armenia in the Capitol and pro-Armenian pressure groups to delay the adoption of an AGR. In a new twist, Oskanian said that if Turkey was willing to restore rail traffic on the existing Kars-Gyumri line, this could be enough for Goam [Gouvernement arménien] To hire the Armenian-American community on AGR. He could not of course guarantee a result, but he is committed to making a good faith and high level effort to persuade the interlocutors of Washington that an AGR would be contrary to the national interests of Armenia if the Turks offered a real advance on the question of the border.
Bryza wrote this report to the rest of his meeting with Kocharyan and Oskanian in Yerevan in July 2007. Bryza internal report on the United States was revealed to the public by Wikileaks several years later.
Babajanyan then quoted Kocharyan in the Bryza report: “I don’t need the resolution [sur la reconnaissance du génocide arménien]. I need an open border and the possibility of a balanced trade with Turkey. »»
On April 10, Oskanian responded with anger to Babajanyan on Facebook, accusing him of “circulating false information allegedly based on Wikileaks”. Oskanian said Babajanyan “is. His interpretations and conclusions cannot emanate from the content of the [document] Original of Wikileaks and the nature of the discussions. The document is attached. »»
After looking for Wikileaks documents dating from 2007 and compared them to the messages from Babajanyan and Oskanian, I discovered the reason for their contradictory statements.
Babajanyan did not specify in his Facebook message that he cited two different reports from the Bryza meetings in Yerevan, which took place on separate dates. The first was March 28, 2007 and the second on July 30, 2007. Babajanyan published non -dated extracts from the two documents.
Therefore, when Oskanian wrote that Babajanyan “lies” because there is no declaration of this type in the Wikileaks document, Oskanian should not realize that Babajanyan was referring to the second report of Bryza.
Indeed, in his second report on his meeting with President Kotcharian, Oskanian and the presidential assistant Vigen Sargsyan on March 28, 2007, Bryza wrote: “Kotcharian and Oskanian revealed their deep skepticism about the good faith of Turkey, and their weariness in the face of a process which seems to them to be conceived in Ankara only to divert the world’s opinion, Armenia the slightest concrete result. “They said:” Although Armenia responds to positive gestures [de la Turquie]Goam is tired of the endless cycle of gestures and discussions that do not lead anywhere in its relations with Turkey. What is most important for Armenia, said Kocharyan without ambages is the border. The diaspora groups had put pressure on him to support the adoption of the convention resolution, but he had refused: “I don’t need it,” he said. “What I need is that the border is open and can compensate for the gigantic commercial imbalance with Turkey. »»
Normally, a misunderstanding on the reference to a document would not be a major problem. However, given that the entourage of Pashinyan takes advantage of each opportunity to blame the former leaders, including Oskanian, the latter reacted strongly. Babajanyan had severely criticized Kocharyan and Oskanian by declaring that “they were not only ready to silence the wrestling of the diaspora for the recognition of the genocide, thus sacrificing the memory of all the people, but also to openly emphasize that the recognition of the genocide was not a priority for their agenda”. Babajanyan added that the former leaders called the current authorities “Turks, traitors and land donors”.
Here is the heart of the problem. Babajanyan, in his obsession with discrediting the former leaders, ignores the fact that it was his Pashinyan ally who has repeatedly dishonored almost all Armenian national symbols. Pashinyan has raised unnecessary questions about the facts of the Armenian genocide, even declaring: “Our official position is that the international recognition of the Armenian genocide today is not on the list of priorities of our foreign policy”.
I would like to remind Babajanyan the popular proverb: “We must not throw the stone to the one who lives in a glass house”. Before you point the finger, make sure your hands are clean.
This does not mean that I defend the former leaders. I have had many face -to -face debates with the presidents Kotcharian and Sarkissian concerning their positions on many questions, including relations between Armenia and Turkey. However, I have greater disagreements with Prime Minister Pachinian.
Harut Sassounian
www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com
