Azernews.Az

YEREVAN – A YouTube video saying that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan requested US Vice President Joe Biden that the United States not recognize the alleged Ottoman-era genocide of Armenians has sparked a wave of uproar in Yerevan.

The footage, posted by an unknown source on the popular video sharing website, quotes a young Armenian who asks Biden "What should I tell the Armenian community?" According to the source, Biden replied: "Tell your community that we haven’t backed down. The Turks should come to terms with reality…We are working and will keep on working in this direction. Tell them that the Armenian president called me and said: ‘When we negotiate, don’t make this problem more tense’. So, we pulled back."

Sargsyan’s spokesman, Armen Arzumanyan, issued a statement after the video was posted. It is surprising that he did not question that the man shown in it was Vice President Biden. Arzumanyan said, however, that the Armenian leader had not called Biden and had never said what the video claims were his words.

"There were two phone conversations in 2009. And those conversations took place on Biden’s initiative. During those negotiations, the Armenian president did not use the expressions cited in the video. On the contrary, Serzh Sargsyan, in all of his addresses and meetings, has pointed to the importance of international recognition of the genocide."

Arzumanyan further suggested that the White House release the minutes of the phone talks.

"Armenia is confident that recordings of all official phone talks of the US vice president are available at the White House. We are therefore providing our consent to divulge the recording of the talks cited in the video."

Armenians residing in Turkey’s Anatolia region staged riots during World War I and fought against the Ottoman army in support of Russia. In an effort to end stand-off, the Ottoman government decided in 1915 to resettle the Armenians to other parts of the country. Armenians say 1.5 million of their ancestors were killed in the process, a claim strenuously dismissed by Turkey, and have been trying to muster international support for their claims worldwide.