PM Pashinyas warned Armenia does not wish to engage with 'weaponization' of the 1915 genocide

Asia / Pacific

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Issued on: 01/07/2026 - 17:58

17:30 min

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1 min

You're watching Middle East Matters on France 24. Nadia Massih is pleased to welcome our Jerusalem correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky and Amberin Zaman, Chief Correspondent for Al Monitor, a Washington-based independent news organization that covers the Middle East and North Africa. Zaman argues that Israel's apparent recognition of the Armenian genocide is less a principled historical reckoning than a "nakedly cynical" strategy shaped by the Gaza war, tensions with Turkey and shifting regional alliances.

Rather than treating the issue as a moral debate in isolation, she frames it within a complex network of relationships linking Israel, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, NATO and the United States. Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan dismissed Israel's recognition outright, instead accusing Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar of 'weaponizing' the genocide. And while populist rhetoric continues to dominate public discourse, security cooperation, energy exports and the regional power balance reign supreme. Zaman suggests that Armenia itself has entered a new phase under Pashinyan, prioritising reconciliation, pragmatism and state-building.

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