Epress.am News from Armenia
The US Embassy in Armenia has apparently issued a statement in response to a YouTube vide in which US Vice-President Joe Biden says that RA President Serzh Sargsyan called him and told him not to recognize the Armenian Genocide during this heated period.
However, the statement by the US Embassy in Armenia was news to us because, even though Epress.am has been in touch with the embassy and has received statements from them in the past, it seems this time, the statement by the US Embassy was sent to just about every other local news agency except Epress.am.
According to the statement, Biden and Sargsyan spoke twice in April 2009. During these talks, the US vice-president told Sargsyan that the United States believes that normalization in relations with Turkey and the opening of the border will pave the way for a better future for Armenia and the support of the United States for its leadership.
US Vice-President Joe Biden further expressed the support of the Obama Administration to Switzerland’s proposal for a joint Armenia-Turkey statement on progress aimed at normalizing relations.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan did not speak with US President Barack Obama about the contents of his April 24 statement, reads the US Embassy statement, nor did he attempt to delay House Resolution 252. On the contrary, the conversations between Biden and Sargsyan, which Biden referred to recently, were about the need to take immediate steps to normalize Armenia-Turkey relations. The two leaders agreed that there should be no preconditions in normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations.
Recall that in the YouTube video posted on Oct. 26, Biden, who does not seem to know he is being filmed, directing his informal remarks to a man who identified himself as an Armenian-American, said:
“Tell them that it was the Armenian President that called me and said “Look, do not force this issue now while we are in negotiations. We passed. That’s passed right now, so anyway, it’s um… reality has a way of intruding.”
Earlier RA President press secretary Armen Arzumanyan denied Biden’s remarks. The RA President’s office almost immediately issued a statement, which read:
“Upon Joe Biden’s request, two phone conversations were held in 2009, during which time the president of the Republic of Armenia did not make the statement attributed to him in the video — either directly or indirectly. On the contrary, in all his public appearances and official meetings, RA President Serzh Sargsyan has emphasized the importance of the international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide and urged not to justify the delay of recognition with the ongoing negotiations with Turkey. Being confident that the White House has at its disposal all the official records of phone calls by the US vice-president, the RA presidential administration gives its official consent to publicize the recording of aforementioned phone call.”