The meeting between Nikol Pashinyan and Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to be the subject of discussions. The photo published yesterday after the meeting of the leaders of the two countries, where Pashinyan accepted the book written by Erdogan with a broad smile, received public criticism.
On various social platforms, people expressed their opinions about the meeting and the photo. Politician Edgar Ghazaryan said on his Facebook page that Pashinyan and Erdogan last met on Oct. 6, 2022, in Prague, where Pashinyan signed a document ceding Artsakh to Azerbaijan and citing the Alma-Ata Declaration.
“Nikol Pashinyan met with Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sept. 24, 2024. On the same day, the Constitutional Court discussed a document by which, with reference to Alma-Ata Declaration, Armenia will be ceded to Turkey,” Ghazaryan wrote.
Political scientist Alen Ghevondyan wrote that the test of the state’s existence is its readiness for war.
“Those who beg for peace are always those who are defeated, those who are dissolved, those who become slave-states. Every leader forms a state with his own concepts. A concubine builds a concubine-state…The rest is a question of wording. The beggar met with Erdogan at the U.N.,” the political scientist wrote.
Lawyer Yervand Varosyan said in a social media post that Erdogan has a direct connection with the deaths of several thousand Armenians in the 44-day war.
“In two days it will be Sept. 27, and it was you who was the “commander”, and it was you who sent the boys there, where they were killed by the author of the book that you are holding,” Varosyan wrote.
People were also worried by the fact that the meeting took place at the Turkish House in New York, which deals with anti-Armenian propaganda. One of the users started a discussion on Facebook whether it was worth it for Pashinyan to go to the Turkish House or not.
Users also made comparisons between Turkish and Armenian officials, noting that the officials represented by Turkey are more national than those representing Armenia.
“Who represents Armenia against the wolves of Turkish politics? The Armenian side is represented by Pashinyan, Mirzoyan, Kostanyan, Baghdasaryan. The Turkish side is represented by Erdogan, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Head of Intelligence Ibrahim Kalin. This is our shame,” Davit Fidanyan wrote.
Armenian National Assembly MP Lilit Galstyan did not like Pashinyan’s broad smile either.
“The smile of a sinful coddler on its face. . . the feeling of the criminal knocking on the door and being null…” the MP wrote.
Alyosha Gabrielyan, a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, wrote: “The dog will happily enter Armenia with the dog’s book kept close to its heart. And we accept this.”
