Turkish columnist: Pashinyan made fool of himself in debate with Aliyev

A columnist for Turkey's famous Hurriyet newspaper, Yalchin Bayer, devoted an article to the debate between President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as part of the Munich Security Conference on February 15.

The article emphasizes that the debate has attracted worldwide attention, Report informs.

The author writes: “The discussion hosted by a moderator between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the framework of the Munich Security Conference held on February 14-16 has been in the spotlight all over the world. Ilham Aliyev’s advanced knowledge of English and full comprehension of the subjects gave him a superiority, while Pashinyan appeared as an 'amateur' politician. Despite his poor knowledge of English, he tried to speak in this language. It can be summarized as follows: 'For the first time, the Azerbaijani President managed to clearly show the rightfulness of his country on such a wide platform. Meanwhile, Pashinyan said nothing new and even Armenian commentators and experts claimed the meeting formed an unpleasant image of Armenia. Pashinyan was like a populist politician...Commentators in Armenia described their prime minister as an ‘inexperienced politician’. The huge gap in political literacy between Aliyev and Pashinyan drew attention. While one of them referred to international law, the other one cited prehistoric events as an example making him look ridiculous. According to international observers, particularly Armenian commentators, Aliyev’s successful statements will reshape the discussions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and create hope for the solution of the problem.”

The article also includes opinions of Professor of Ege University (Izmir) Aydin Ibrahimov and journalist Artak Vardanyan living in Yerevan.

Artak Vardanyan mentioned: “Nikol Pashinyan was born in 1975. He studied journalism at the Faculty of Philology at Yerevan University in 1991-1994. Because of his political activities, he was expelled from the university. He is unaware of the history and the conflict (refers to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict - "Report"). He has been the prime minister for the last two years but still acts as a populist like a third-class street politician. All his knowledge is too basic.”