After the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on Friday, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour interviewed Yerevan’s top diplomat, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan about the meeting with his U.S. counterpart, as well as the conflict.
Yet from the onset of the segment, it was obvious that the venerable journalist, who is CNN’s chief international anchor, was out to bait Mnatsakanyan and paint a picture of Azerbaijan’s military aggression against Artsakh as somehow being Armenia’s fault.
The segment, which aired on Amanpour’s eponymous program on CNN International, begins with footage of emergency crews and soldiers clearing the wreckage of a bombed building. We all have seen this footage, in its varying forms, as being the Azerbaijani city of Ganja, the site of what official Baku alleges was an Armenian attack directed at civilians. This same footage is also interspersed throughout the segment over Mnatsakanyan’s comments of the toll this aggression is taking on civilians.
The Armenian and Azeri Foreign Ministers met with Mike Pompeo today about the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian Foreign Minister @ZMnatsakanyan tells me “the civilians are dying” and blames Azerbaijan – but is he pushing for unification with Armenia? pic.twitter.com/1pK0jHgN38
— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) October 23, 2020
Then Amanpour begins citing various United Nations resolutions adopted in 1993 and 2008—the very documents that Baku has been waving around to disregard the Karabakh conflict settlement efforts of the OSCE Minks Group co-chairs. She then cites Azerbaijan’s repeated claims of “occupied territories,” which have emboldened it to resolve the conflict through military force aided by Turkey and its military and jihadists fighters.
To convince viewers of her approach to this issue, Amanpour calls Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan a “nationalist” and refers to his statement in August, 2019 in Stepanakert that “Artsakh is Armenia,” prodding Mnatsakanyan to address her allegation that Armenian nationalism is somehow behind Azerbaijan’s military aggression. At this point in the interview, Mnatsakanyan tells Amanpour that she is taking statements out of context, after which, of course, the interview was timed out and ended.
At the beginning and the end of the segment, Amanpour announced that an invitation was extended to Mnatsakanyan’s Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov who was unable to commit.
“Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan tells me ‘the civilians are dying’ and blames Azerbaijan – but is he pushing for unification with Armenia?” This is the tagline that Amanpour used to promote her interview with Mnatsakanyan on social media.
Throughout the past couple of decades Amanpour has gained a reputation for being an expert in global affairs due to her “cutting edge” reporting from international conflict zones and “hard-hitting” interviews with global leaders, like the late Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi. Yet on Friday she was not interviewing a world leader under whose reign hundreds of thousands were sent to their deaths. Although, since clearly she was following the Azerbaijani script, perhaps she thought Mnatsakanyan was the second coming of Gaddafi.
For three decades now, the international press has covered Artsakh as an oversimplified territorial conflict, at the center of which are “ethnic Armenians” who are living in “what is Azerbaijan.” A journalist of Amanpour’s caliber should have at least done her research, if not shown an iota of “objectivity.” But when, all along, her approach was to blame Armenia and prop up Azerbaijan, none of the facts on the ground matter.
I am not going to delve deeply into another interview Amanpour conducted Friday with Ivo Daalder, the former U.S. ambassador to NATO. Daalder warned that “there’s a possibility of an escalation of this conflict that could lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and Turkey.” In that segment, Amanpour, again using footage from the Azerbaijani defense ministry, paints Armenia as a “servant” to its Russian “master.”
What is the wider importance of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh? Former Ambassador to NATO @IvoHDaalder explains that “there’s a possibility of an escalation of this conflict that could lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and Turkey.” pic.twitter.com/oK4GcmTR0s
— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) October 23, 2020
Incidentally, this is not the first time that Amanpour has ignored Armenians in her coverage of global affairs.
In 2008, CNN premiered a documentary called “Scream Bloody Murder” anchored by Amanpour. There she offers a gripping look at genocide throughout history and those who witnessed and warned a deaf world about such atrocities. However, she neglected to mention the Armenian Genocide as the first such event.
After thousands of Armenians demonstrated in front of the CNN building in Los Angeles this month demanding that the cable news channel provide fair coverage of the current military aggression by Azerbaijan, the channel’s leaders were baffled by the protesters and their demands. Of course they would be if they have entrusted their “fair” coverage to their chief international anchor.
So did Deutshe Welle a couple of days ago ,the woman interviewing Zohrab Mnatsankyan blamed all the war on Pashinian. and had the same narrative.
Needless to say I am boycotting their website along with BBC.
how much of Naxichevan is Azerbaijan giving back?
we Armenians are trully alone. we are a nuisance to their pipeline.
It is time to appreciate the French a little more. Frau Merkel is going halal and the royal pedophile family of England like aliyev’s fortune too much. it is as profitable as their opium empire.
So what are we going to do about her biased reporting?
We have to demand Amanpour’s expulsion from CNN. She is serving the political interests of Azerbaijan and Turkey by presenting the current war from their point of view and failing to interview out top diplomat, Mr. Mnatsakanyan with respect and objectivity. She has to be fired ASAP!!
We know who and what is Christine Amanpour and what masters she serves. That was very obvious since the times of the Yugoslav wars, particularly NATO bombing of Serbia for the sake of Kosovo Albanians. She was praised by her ilks like Madeline Albright and Hillary Clinton, and you can make your own conclusions based on that as what kind of “journalist” she is. Probably it is best to avoid such “journalists” or if one has to give interview, one should put her and her likes in their place. She has no idea what is going on in Artsakh and what is the whole issue is about. What a vile person she is.
Who is Amanpour married to. { a demand, not a question }. Lay it all out in detail. Detail and factual. Describe the political commitments of such spouse. Is a “greater power ” ( behind the spouse ) inherent in that marital obligation ,coloring and infecting the truth, and thus revealing bias?? How about that.!? Same goes for the “constantly appearing,” as an expert, Juliette.
Propaganda designed to influence American public opinion is treasure to those who dominate and wish to continue dominating and controlling U.S.A. public persuasions. They both say Armenians are not important.
Amanpour was not a fumble stumble choice. It is policy of the Guiding Hand of CNN
And there goes CNN, supporting dictators. Who else does CNN support? I will not elaborate too much before an election, but they have always been anti-Armenian, afaik. They are a very biased organization. What’s sad is that the masses will often believe these pea-brained con artists
CNN = Cattle News Network
Amanpour is a Genocide denier, who has often taken an anti-Armenian position. Our cities are being bombarded, war crimes are being committed daily, and she fixated on whether Armenia would recognize Artsakh’s independence! I think our foreign minister wasted his time talking to her.
I sent two messages to Amanpour politely admonishing her for not doing her homework and not having carefully read the UN Security Council resolutions and understanding the context in which the General Assembly passed the resolution she made reference to. That resolution was hastily pushed through the General Assembly with mostly Islamic nations voting in favor and the three OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, France, US, and Russia voting against. I believe there were 39 votes for the resolution while 100 nations abstained. Not very convincing. None of the Security Council resolutions call for a withdrawal from Karabakh itself, just the surrounding districts but with security for Artsakh. Actually, no+where in the 5 Basic Principles of the Minsk Group peace process does it call for the return of Karabakh but sets out the principle of self-determination for Artsakh with the words: “future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh through a legally binding expression of will.” A sorry performance on Amanpour’s part.
Christan Amanpour is a secret supporter of the corrupt regime of Azerbaijan.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-aerospace-industries-paid-155-million-to-two-companies-linked-to-azerbaijan-1.9172980
AMANPOUR IS AN OVERATED NEWS PERSON…..SHE IS IRANIAN AND HAS STRONG TIES WITH AZERBEYJAN AND TURKEY….SHE HAS NEVER BEEN FAIRT WITH ARMENIAN ISSUES AND ANEMY OF CHRISTIONS. SHE KNOWS THE TRUTH AND KNOWINGLY LIES
This women lost her mind
Today, the extant TURKISH REPUBLIC of 2020 is GUILTY of committing and perpetuating the ARMENIAN GENOCIDE!
So WHY are Armenians being so insipid?
Fact: Turks claim Armenians were deported from war zones for their own safety — NOT with the goal of killing them and committing genocide.
Fact: Turks TODAY conceal (and reportedly destroy) Ottoman Turkish deeds records and archives to obstruct official confirmation of Armenian ownership and thwart the inheritors of the Armenians they “deported” to reclaim and return to their homes, lands and property;
Thereby;
Fact: The Turks are continuing to commit genocide on the Armenians by preventing them from returning to their homes even though WWI is OVER.
WHY
Aren’t Armenians suing the modern day Republic of Turkey for perpetrating the ongoing genocide TODAY?
Aren’t Armenians being self-defeating instead of helping their cause?
”A journalist of Amanpour’s caliber should have at least done her research”….. IGNORANCE, IGNORANCE, IGNORANCE, it is sad to see how US is in the hands of ignorant people like Amanpour, the list is too long to mention and not to forget to add to ignorance, corruption, Caviar politics, hush money, and bribes
She is one sided, corrupt and has sick agenda. Masquerading herself as “human rights defender” she pushes for more imperialism and wars.
Like whole CNN she can’t be trusted. Many Serbians remember her “trustworthy reporting” from Balkan Wars. Her soul is ugly no matter how much make up she uses, whoever have eyes can see it.
Armenians and Diaspora should understand that looking for help from USA and other governments without substantial points in hands is a waste of time. Nobody is going to Recognize Karabakh independence without its own advantage. Armenians should take actions to make things happen not just in words but in real. For example if US and Nato does not stop Turkey and make it to withdraw its millitary personnel and Jets from Azerbaidjan. Then they should close the huge US embassy in Yerevan and get a small room. And most of all take their “democracy” and put it in their one place. It has been enough to play this stupid games
Ara K has raised excellent points and he is right on the money. Listening to Amanpour’s interview I was baffled. It is a shame that a CNN reporter with international reputation as an interviewer could be so biased in her approach. May be it’s all a sham and she doesn’t deserve the reputation.
Christiane Maria Heideh Amanpour CBE is a British-Iranian journalist. Amanpour has responded to the criticism leveled on her reporting from the war in the former Yugoslavia for “lack of neutrality”, stating: Some people accused me of being pro-Muslim in Bosnia, but I realized that our job is to give all sides an equal hearing, but in cases of genocide you can’t just be neutral.
I my opinion, she is not neutral. May be her parents are Azeris from Iran.
Ms. Amanpour,
You always were known as a charlatan, a liar, and a provocateur. I remember your immoral and cheating lies (so called reports) from Balkans, always prejudiced against Christians, always in support of bandits and terrorists. You are a disgrace for America; you are a disgrace for civilization; you are a sold soul – with no conscience, no moral, no integrity, just a piece of worthless nothing. You are just an anti-American piece of filth.