U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani met with Armenia’s Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and visited the Armenian genocide memorial in Yerevan on Monday during what he described as a private trip to the country.
Giuliani, who served as mayor of New York City from 1994-2001, was invited by Ara Abrahamian, a pro-Kremlin leader of the Armenian community in Russia, to take part in an international forum in the Armenian capital organized by the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a Russian-led trade bloc.
Giuliani was accompanied by Abrahamian when he visited the Tsitsernakabert memorial to pay his respects to some 1.5 million Armenians massacred by the Ottoman Turks during the First World War.
As New York mayor, he had repeatedly issued statements recognizing the genocide and attended commemorations of the genocide victims organized by Armenian-American advocacy groups.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service at Tsitsernakabert, Giuliani was asked whether he believes Trump should also publicly describe the 1915 mass killings as genocide. “I certainly recognize it,” he replied. “I think it’s a historical fact. But I’m not here in my capacity as a private lawyer for President Trump. I’m here as a private citizen.”
“So it’s up to the administration to make its own conclusion about that,” he added.
Like his predecessors, Trump avoided using the word genocide in his statements issued for the annual April 24 commemorations of genocide anniversary in the United States. He spoke instead of “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.”
Giuliani was also careful not to comment on U.S.-Armenian relations, saying that “it’s up to the two governments” to develop them. “Again, I’m here as a private citizen just to learn some facts in my first time in Armenia,” he said. “I know the Armenian community in America well but this is my first time here.”
Giuliani met with Tonoyan later in the day. A statement by the Armenian Defense Ministry said the minister briefed him on “the security environment around Armenia.” The two men also “exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues,” added the statement.
Giuliani, 74, is known for his hawkish views on America’s relations with Iran, a key neighbor of Armenia. He has strongly supported Trump’s controversial decision to pull out of an international deal on Iran’s nuclear program and to re-impose economic sanctions on Tehran.
Like the other world powers that signed it -- France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China -- Armenia continues to support the 2015 deal. It has made clear that it will press ahead with joint economic projects with the Islamic Republic.
Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, is due to arrive in Yerevan later this week as part of a tour of Russia and the three South Caucasus states.
Facebook Forum