Why Armenian PM refuses to meet with Paris mayor? Armenian media’s versions

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has refused to receive, or rather, at the last moment cancelled a meeting with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who paid a two-day official visit to Armenia on May 26, 2022 without any explanation.

The official sources say nothing about Pashinyan’s any important reason for cancelling a meeting with such a high-level foreign representative, Caliber.Az reports referring to the article entitled “Who has instructed Nikol Pashinyan to cancel the meeting and dinner with the mayor of Paris?” published by Yerevan’s Hraparak newspaper.

According to the newspaper, "interesting hypotheses are put forward by sources informed about this refusal".

The mayor of Paris paid a visit to Armenia to "express support for the friendly people", the article says.

Hidalgo's visit was organised by the Coordination Council of Armenian Organisations of France (CCAF), a French-Armenian organisation co-chaired by Nouvelles d'Arménie head Ara Toranian and Armenian Revolutionary Federation - Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) Bureau member Murad Papazian.

The article says that Hidalgo’s visit was organised "with great difficulty". Upon arrival in Armenia, she met with the mayor of Yerevan, the president of Armenia, etc.

The author of the article writes that Hidalgo's meeting with Pashinyan was scheduled for May 28 at 18:00 (GMT+4), then an official dinner was supposed to take place, however, at the last moment, the Armenian prime minister's office phoned and said about the cancellation of the meeting without any explanation.

CCAF Co-Chair Murad Papazian has confirmed this information for Hraparak.

“Indeed, the meeting between Pashinyan and Hidalgo was scheduled in advance, on May 28 evening, and afterward, the official dinner was to be held with the delegation, however, at the last moment, the authorities refused from meeting. We do not understand why Pashinyan refused to meet with the mayor of Paris at the last second,” Papazian said.

Papazian, in an interview with Hraparak, put forward two versions.

He noted that perhaps, “being in direct contact with Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev forbade this meeting, punishing France for its pro-Armenian position on the Karabakh issue”. Moreover, the mayor of Paris met with Arayik Harutyunyan (the leader of the Karabakh separatists) in Armenia’s Goris town.

“The first hypothesis is that Pashinyan did not want to offend the Azerbaijani president. The second hypothesis as you know when Zareh Sinanyan (High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs under the Prime Minister of Armenia) arrived in France in January 2022, the mayor of Paris did not meet with him, and maybe Sinanyan organised such a scenario of cancelling Hidalgo's meeting with Pashinyan,” Papazian said.

According to Hraparak, Papazian emphasizes that he is not sure of either version, however, both are trustworthy.

“I really don't understand how the meeting with the mayor of Paris could be canceled. What was more important at that moment than this meeting?” Papazian noted.

Hraparak did its best to get a comment about the cancellation of the meeting from Head of the Department for Information and PR of the Armenian prime minister’s office, Armen Khachatryan.

“Who has said that the meeting was scheduled and canceled?” Khachatryan said.

Khachatryan added that he had no information that the meeting between the Armenian prime minister and the mayor of Paris was scheduled.

“The mayor of Paris does not come to Armenia very often. Why this meeting was not scheduled? journalists asked.

Khachatryan reiterated that he did not know anything about the scheduled meeting.

The journalists said they would like Pashinyan to answer their questions, and Khachatryan promised to clarify this issue. However, later he stopped responding to journalists’ phone calls. Sinanyan also refused to communicate with media representatives.