Treachery or free speech?: Armenian scholar’s interview with Azeri website elicits mixed reactions

Treachery or free speech?: Armenian scholar’s interview with Azeri website elicits mixed reactions –

By Sara Khojoyan

Armenianow – A pro-opposition Armenian scholar’s interview with an Azerbaijani website in which he lashes out at Armenia’s former and current governments has sparked renewed debate in Armenia around whether it is acceptable to “wash your dirty laundry in public”. 

Well-known filmmaker and activist Tigran Khzmalyan known for his opposition views has already been branded as “traitor” by some social media users in Armenia after Haqqin.az published an interview with him in a question-and-answer format on May 13. 

Khzmalyan, who answered the Azerbaijani website’s questions in writing, confirmed that his words were not distorted.

“I would say the same thing to Armenian, Russian, Chinese or Turkish journalists if they asked me these questions. I don’t think that in giving an interview to an enemy or an enemy state [representative] one has to lie,” the Armenian scholar explained. 

In his interview Khzmalyan, in particular, spoke about the 1999 parliamentary killings in Armenia, claiming that they marked the beginning of political and economies woes for the country. Khzmalyan also addressed issues of social injustice and corruption in Armenia. 

“As far as I know, the situation is similar in other post-Soviet countries, partly also in Azerbaijan. I believe that the main reason for our defeats is the weakness of our national elite that yielded to the criminal regime supported by the Kremlin,” he argued in the interview. 

While in the past similar views expressed by opposition Armenians in interviews with foreign media have been mostly criticized in the Armenian segment of social media, today there is more of a debate going on regarding the matter. 

Information security expert Samvel Martirosyan thinks that Khzmalyan’s interview is first of all an indicator of the high level of freedom of speech in Armenia, especially in comparison with Azerbaijan.

However, according to the expert, the selection of platform and contents is important, especially that the motives are unknown.

“This website is clearly a platform for anti-Armenian propaganda, it can hardly be considered to be a media outlet. I would understand if Khzmalyan spoke about Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. But what is the point of going to the Azerbaijani field and talking about internal political problems of Armenia in the case when you can do that freely in Armenia and says nothing new?” the expert wondered. 

“I think a politician should take into account these circumstances, as giving an interview is not an end in itself,” Martirosyan added, talking to ArmeniaNow. 

Journalist and publicist Varduhi Simonyan thinks that double standards are applied when a Turk speaking about the Armenian Genocide is hailed as a hero, but an Armenian who speaks with the Azerbaijani society is labeled as a traitor. 

“Don’t turn this society into rubbish. Giving an interview to an Azerbaijani media outlet is not a sin. It is another thing that your son gets shot at the border. Your scholar should be talking to the Azerbaijani society about how to stop the shooting at the borders and establishing peace,” Simonyan wrote on her Facebook account. 

This is not the first time Armenian oppositionists and scholars give interviews to Azerbaijani media, lashing out at Armenian authorities. Armenia’s leading human rights activist Artur Sakunts also does not avoid giving such interviews. He has described Khzmalyan’s interview as the exercise of the right of freedom of expression.

Meanwhile, information security expert and well-known blogger Tigran Kocharyan thinks that Khzmalyan in reality has been “used” for so-called “network screening”.

“In this case, it was a screening on how the Armenian public reacts to the phenomenon that is rejected (still rejected) by the Armenian society and how the network that has not worked for some time should respond – either by justifying what Khzmalyan has done, or in the worst case scenario, by divert flows to other directions. The only victim here is Khzmalyan, who has been simply used as a Guinea pig to gauge the mood of the society,” Kocharyan wrote on his Facebook account.