June 2011, Dr. Nabeel A. Shaath, the Commissioner of International Relations of Fateh Movement and the Palestinian Former Minister for Foreign Affairs meeting ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Bureau member and former Minister of Education Mr. Levon Mkrtchyan, in Yerevan.

YEREVAN, August 29, 2015 (ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Press Office) – Recently Hikmet Hajiyev, the spokesman for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told the Azerbaijani media that Palestine is not planning to open an embassy in Armenia in the near future. According to the Azerbaijani ministry’s spokesperson, the Palestinian embassy in Baku contacted with the administration of the President and the Foreign Ministry of Palestine and both structures have dismissed this information as baseless and stated that there is no plan to open an embassy in Yerevan. The issue of a Palestinian embassy in Yerevan was raised by the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom in an interview with the “Arevelk” (“East”) news website in Yerevan.

Responding to a question by the “Aravot” (“Morning”) Armenian daily, Press Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Tigran Balayan, said that these issues are regulated by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, in bilateral format. “It is ridiculous that the representative of a third country [Azerbaijan] is making a statement regarding the representation of the Palestine in Yerevan,” added Mr. Balayan.

The ARF-Dashnaktsutyun Press Office asked Giro Manoyan, member of the ARF-Dshnaktsutyun and its international secretary, about the party’s position on the issue. According to Manoyan, the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun has good relations with the Palestian Fateh Movement and has had meetings with the Fateh leadership both in Ramallah and Yerevan. Manoyan noted that Azerbaijan has pursued and has so far succeeded in driving a wedge in Armenian-Palestinian relations and the most recent announcement from Baku regarding the opening of a Palestinian Embassy in Yerevan is the continuation of that policy.

“It is regrettable that the Palestinian Ambassador in Baku has also played a negative role in that regard. The Palestinian Authority’s stance regarding the Karabakh issue and Armenian-Turkish relations is incomprehensible. While Azerbaijan continues to expand its strategic partnership with Israel, the Palestinian Authority has, since June 2011, decided to intervene in the Karabakh issue by supporting Azerbaijan’s position on the issue. Efforts to return the Armenian-Palestinian relations to their historic path of mutual solidarity continue to be hindered by and from Baku. The hope expressed in Yerevan by the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom regarding the establishment of a Palestinian Embassy in Yerevan is being torpedoed with the help of the Palestinian Ambassador in Baku. As a political party which pursues close relations between Armenia and Palestine and Armenian-Palestinian relations in general, we expect from the Palestinian Authority to clarify its position on this matter. Recently, before the embassy issue was raised publicly and even after the Palestinian Ambassador in Baku condemned the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun was instrumental in gaining PLO Youth movement representatives with Palestinian passports entrance to Armenia for an international conference. We hope that the Palestinian Authority will make the right decision based on the interests of the Palestinian people and Palestine, and we will soon witness the opening of a Palestinian Embassy in Yerevan,” concluded Manoyan.