2020.09.30,

Verified

The President Made A Translation Error, Corrected It, But Did Not Inform The Audience

author_posts/arshaluys-barseghyan
Arshaluys Barseghyan

Journalist

Today, the RA President’s information department spread misinformation on the RA President’s Twitter microblog, deleted it, then posted the edited content, but did not inform the audience about it.

This is in reference to President Armen Sargsyan’s speech on September 30. In his opening speech at the Italian “Milano Finanza Digital Week” conference, he referred to the situation in Karabakh. He informed in English that Azerbaijanis are “targeting vans with the red cross on it, where the wounded are or civilians are” (in the video from 5:58).

This information was spread on the official Twitter microblog of the president. The Armenian text of the message and English, Russian versions did not match.

The Armenian text reads that “Azeris target Red Cross vehicles with wounded or civilians. I hope that in 50 years, maybe artificial intelligence will teach people to be more humane.”

In the translations, the phrase “Red Cross” was translated as “#RedCross vehicles” As a result, the impression was created that the cars of the International Committee of the Red Cross had been targeted.

About an hour after the publication, the English-Russian tweets were removed, then the edited versions corresponding to the Armenian content were posted, respectively with the words “attacking emergency vehicles” or “attacking machines with near-aid.”

In other words, it was clarified that not the International Committee of the Red Cross, but cars with the mark of a red cross were targeted, as Armen Sargsyan mentioned in his speech.

It is noteworthy that the information department of the President’s Office did not inform the audience about this change. Meanwhile, NA Deputy Speaker Alen Simonyan tweeted in Russian based on this incorrect translation. He particularly wrote:

«#Азербайджанцы нападают на машины #Красного Креста с #гражданским населением, среди которых и раненые. Это открытое #преступление против человечества и цивилизации. #Армения #НКР»։

And Alen Simonyan’s post was spread by the media.

Arshaluys Barseghyan


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