YEREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: Yesterday, information was disseminated that [PM] Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Pashinyan congratulated the President of Turkey on the occasion of Kurban Bayram [i.e., the Islamic Feast of Sacrifice], and the President of Turkey reciprocally congratulated Pashinyan on the occasion of Vardavar [i.e., Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ] holiday.

We tried to find out on whose initiative the telephone conversation took place, but the [Armenian] government said they have no other comment beyond the official statement.

We were informed, however, that the arrangement of the telephone conversation was made earlier—not on the initiative of a specific person, but within the framework of the process of normalization of [Armenia-Turkey] relations.

By the way, the same text was posted on the official website of the President of Turkey as well—naturally, in Turkish. They said they agreed [on it], then they disseminated [it], whereas in phone conversations with the RF [(Russian Federation)] president, it often happens that the Armenian side disseminates one thing, the Kremlin—another.