Nalbandian Meets with Clinton, Members of Congress; Declines to Speak to the Press

WASHINGTON (A.W.)—On May 5, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington.

Before the meeting, Clinton said, “The relationship between the United States and Armenia is a very lasting and durable one. The Obama Administration is committed to broadening it, deepening it, working with Armenia to assist them in their continued development and aspirations.”

In turn, Nalbandian thanked the Obama Administration, Clinton, and the State Department for their “constant efforts to help to support the normalization process with Turkey and settlement, peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict.”

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry reported on its website that during the meeting, Clinton considered the signing of the April 22 “road map” between Turkey and Armenia a historic event. The ministry also reported that Nalbandian invited Clinton to Armenia.

On the Hill

On May 4, Nalbandian visited Congress and had a meeting with Armenian Caucus co-chairs Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Calif.) as well as Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), and Steve Rothman (D-N.J.). Upon the request of the Congressmen, Nalbandian presented some information about the recent dialogue between Turkey and Armenia and the signed “road map.”

Nalbandian also met with Daniel Fried, the assistant secretary of state, and Rodney Bent, the acting chief executive officer of the Millennium Challenges.

Meeting with Armenian Americans

Nalbandian met with some representatives from the Armenian American community, including the Armenian Assembly, which had welcomed the “road map” in a statement issued on April 23, commending Yerevan for its “bold initiatives.”

The Foreign Minister had requested a meeting with the ANCA as well, but no such meeting took place.

‘No’ to the Armenian Press

Nalbandian rejected the request of several Armenian American publications that approached him for an interview, including the Armenian Weekly and the Hairenik Weekly.

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Dr. Khatchig Mouradian

Khatchig Mouradian is the Armenian and Georgian Area Specialist at the Library of Congress and a lecturer in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. He also serves as Co-Principal Investigator of the project on Armenian Genocide Denial at the Global Institute for Advanced Studies, New York University. Mouradian is the author of The Resistance Network: The Armenian Genocide and Humanitarianism in Ottoman Syria, 1915-1918, published in 2021. The book has received the Syrian Studies Association “Honourable Mention 2021.” In 2020, Mouradian was awarded a Humanities War & Peace Initiative Grant from Columbia University. He is the co-editor of a forthcoming book on late-Ottoman history, and the editor of the peer-reviewed journal The Armenian Review.