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Exclusive interview by Anzhela Elibegova, the candidate of political sciences, an expert on the geopolitics of the South Caucasus, given to Panorama.am.

- Could you please comment on the situation regarding the scandalous speech by the moldavian lawyer Ayrelii Grigoriy in the Armenian parliament?

- First of all, we should dispel the myths spread in the informational platform by Grigoriu surrounding her own speech. On her Facebook page she says that her speech was cut after the 3rd minute referring to the parliament’s procedures, while the others were allowed to talk 15 minutes each. I felt like I should watch the whole speech. In her 14 minutes, she devotes only the last several minutes to the human rights situation in Moldova. The rest of the time statements of Azerbaijan’s propaganda are repeatedly told without, of course, any factual or real examples. A very strange picture evolves as the Moldova’s ombudsman by ignoring her area of responsibility – human rights in her own country – uses the parliamentary platform for xenophobic and anti-Armenian rhetoric. Even the members of Azerbaijani delegation visiting Armenia for various international events, would not allow themselves such a behavior.

- Photo of Grigoriu where she is on trip to Baku and her love confession towards Azerbaijan was actively disseminated in social networks. Many argue that it was a well-planned provocation.

- Well, if it was planned in advance, then it was very mediocrely planned, as the Azerbaijani media, which were presenting themselves as the primary source of the news concerning the situation around the Moldovan Ombudsman in Yerevan, were providing information which they would not have without personal access, moreover, with such speed. Secondly, the misinformation about the "raging crowds that had surrounded the hotel and were eager to revenge", remained in the information field for a couple of hours until the Armenian media laid out in the networks video record of surveillance cameras of the hotel where it was clearly visible, how impressively Gregoriu walks through the lobby, eating apricots, talking to foreign diplomats and chats on the Internet from her tablet. No one showed special interest towards her, even if she really wanted to. To put it mildly she did not look like a maltreated and intimidated victim. And anyone who has visited Yerevan understands that here it’s not Azerbaijan; holding nationalistic protests under the windows of hotels are considered to be bad manners here.

- It turns out that they even failed to hold a convincing provocation.

- Well, if Grigoriu has nothing to hide, and let’s assume, she is really concerned by the violations of the rights of the Azerbaijanis, then, why she hides with lightning speed all pictures on her Facebook account where she is in the company of Azerbaijani officials? However, the Armenian bloggers managed to make screenshots from all her photos, so it was, in fact, useless manipulation. Secondly, why isn’t Mrs. Grigoriu interested in Armenian version of the events? We are willing to provide her with the facts that contradict each of her voiced theses. This is what the elementary professionalism requires. But the human rights defender showed a complete enviable indifference towards the human tragedy of the Armenians in this war. She was interested neither in pogroms of Armenians in Baku and Sumgait, nor the "Operation Ring", and not in any other thing. If the assumptions of her one-sided disposition are wrong, and if she really presented her point of view, then we will be looking forward to hear her performance in the Azerbaijani parliament, where Grigoriu will also tell in details about how the official Baku opened fire using prohibited weapons to the direction of the peaceful population of Stepanakert long before the Aghdam events. And then we will watch her escaping from the mad crowds gathered around her hotel.

- Is it beneficial to us that people without professional skills work for the Azerbaijan’s propaganda?

- Yes and no. On one hand, we are glad that the provocation failed. Grigoriu herself rejected the existence of a “mob threatening her life” in her interview to Azerbaijani media and admitted that the threats were coming to her exclusively through Facebook. Having said this, a prudent person understands that it will take 5 minutes to create fake profiles with Armenian last names in social networks, and the instance with which the Azerbaijani media started to write about these threats talks about the involvement of the Azerbaijani side in this. On the other hand, even in the informational war, there should be a minimal ceiling below which the Azerbaijani side cannot go. In fact, no matter how this mess was created -- deliberately, by her lack of knowledge or by stupidity, it does not matter. The official Moldavian structures will have to clean it. By the way, the disinformation by the Azerbaijani media regarding the note of protest sent by the Moldavian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Armenia regarding the incident, was also later rejected, and the numerous representatives of official structures of Moldova apologized to the Armenian side, by saying that the words of Grigoriu express her own position which has nothing to do with the official position of her country. However, it is thought that this incident will not cease and the Armenian community of Moldova will actively get involved into this process and demand her resignation from her post of human rights defender.