Coverage of Karabakh FM's visit in South Ossetia

The delegation from Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] headed by foreign minister Masis Mayilyan visited South Ossetia last week. The South Ossetian media covered this visit, at least its official part, quite exhaustively.

Among the publications about the visit on South Ossetian news feeds, you can see one with an expressive headline: "Artsakh is ready to provide help in recognising the genocide of the Ossetian people – foreign ministry head". Here is an abridged quotation from this material.

"Answering a question by Res [news agency] correspondent on Artsakh's readiness to assist in the recognition of the South Ossetian genocide, the head of the South Ossetian foreign ministry, Dmitry Medoyev, said at a briefing in Tskhinvali that his republic and Artsakh not only had a complicated history of emergence and development of statehood, but their tragic events also had things in common."

The publication went on, quoting Masis Mayilyan.

"This issue has never been raised, but we are always ready to discuss it and provide assistance in these matters through the Armenian dasporas."

Karabakh's denial

On the delegation's return home, the press service of the Artsakh foreign ministry made a special statement to say that during his working visit to South Ossetia, the head of the foreign agency did not discuss assistance in the recognition of the genocide of the South Ossetian people.

"It should first and foremost be stressed that at numerous bilateral meetings with our counterparts in South Ossetia, the South Ossetian side did not raise the problem of assistance in recognising the genocide of the South Ossetian people. At the same time, it is noteworthy that close and trust-based relations took shape between Artsakh and South Ossetia and there are no issues closed for discussion," the statement by the Artsakh foreign ministry said.

The video materials of the visit of the delegation of Nagorno-Karabakh comprise all issues the sides touched on. They also cover the episode, where Dmitry Medoyev draws historical parallels, speaking about similar fates of the peoples, but not a single word is said about genocide and the readiness of the Armenian counterparts to provide assistance in recognising it, although it would seem that the issue is important and had such a statement been made, it should have come into the spotlight of reports.

Russian political analyst Nikolai Silayev said that of the two publications, the denial by the Artsakh foreign ministry was more trustworthy and here is why:

[Silayev] Of course, Armenia cannot afford any positive gestures regarding South Ossetia simply because its dependence on transit via Georgian territory is critical. On the other hand, the situation is not simple, because Nagorno-Karabakh as well as South Ossetia are regions that broke away from the Soviet republics they used to be part of.

[Gukemukhov] Can it be said that the hosts put the delegation in an awkward spot?

[Silayev] Well, representatives of both Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh find themselves in an awkward situation after such statements. In addition, taking into account the close relations between Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, both find themselves in an awkward situation. On the one hand, this is the Armenian leadership, who are informally responsible for Nagorno-Karabakh before external players. At any rate, Tbilisi will ask questions. On the other hand, the leadership of the Nagorno-Karabakh are also in an awkward situation. It follows that they are forced to make some statements that they deny later. [Silayev ends]

Incidentally, those, who personally know Masis Mayilyan, describe him as an experienced politician and flatly refuse to believe that he could have made such statements.

Similar case in 2015

This story is reminiscent of another one – a report from the website of the South Ossetian parliament on a working meeting between [then South Ossetian] speaker Anatoly Bibilov and Armenian Parliament Chairman Galust Sahakyan on 1 May 2015. Here is a fragment of the publication of that time:

"South Ossetian parliament chairman Anatoly Bibilov is in the republic of Nagorno-Karabakh at the invitation of Armenian National Assembly Chairman Galust Sahakyan. Within the frames of the programme of the visit, a working meeting was held between the heads of law-making agencies of Armenia and South Ossetia, where topical issues of the development of bilateral relations were discussed.

A scandal erupted after the statement. Tbilisi demanded explanations from Yerevan. Armenian Ambassador Yuri Vardanyan was summoned to the Georgian Foreign Ministry, where then Deputy Minister Gigi Gigiadze met him. The Georgian diplomat expressed "extreme concern" over the meeting between Armenian Parliament Chairman Galust Sahakyan and Anatoly Bibilov.

The media reported that on 5 May, "a telephone conversation between the heads of the two governments was held on the initiative of Yerevan over Tbilisi's concerns about the meeting of the chairmen of the Armenian and South Ossetian parliaments. During the telephone conversation, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan assured his Georgian counterpart Irakli Gharibashvili of unfailing support for Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty".

Hovik Abrahamyan had to offer excuses, saying that it was an "informal communication of personal nature on a day off". What, in particular, happened at that time? As eyewitnesses said, during his trip to Nagorno-Karabakh, Anatoly Ilyich [Bibilov's patronymic] expressed the desire to familiarise himself with Galust Grigoryevich [Sahakyan's patronymic]. The gust's desire was satisfied and they had a small talk.

Later, South Ossetian comrades failed to resist the desire to drum up hype. As the saying goes, they preferred to lose a friend rather than a jest. Galust Sahakyan was the first to be lost and now it is Masis Mayilyan. Armenian colleagues sadly joke in this connection, saying that it has become dangerous to communicate with South Ossetian comrades.