A video was uploaded to the Azerbaijani CBC TV YouTube channel on January 2. The footage presented Armenian cultural heritage as Azerbaijani. It claimed that Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, is an Azerbaijani city. The museum artifacts from Sisian, a town in Armenia, were also claimed to be of Azerbaijani heritage. Additionally, the video stated that Azeri monuments were handed over to Armenians, along with the region of Zangezur.The film “Drones of the CBC TV Channel Captured the Hidden History of Yerevan” includes interviews with Azerbaijani citizens who claim to have lived in Yerevan.

Based on the film’s description and content, it appears that the footage was shot by a drone from an Azerbaijani TV company, and a journalistic team from Azerbaijan visited Armenia to conduct the interviews. The film features drone shots taken from the center of Yerevan and the historical and archaeological museums of Erebuni and Sisian. Additionally, it includes interviews with the directors of these museums, Mikael Badalyan and Tatul Syuni.

According to a reportage prepared by the 5th channel, the museum directors were not informed that the footage would be used in an Azerbaijani film. Tatul Syuni confirmed that the scene involving him was recorded on December 9, 2023. A Russian journalist and a two-person film crew visited the museum without prior notice. They expressed their interest in the museum and interviewed the director. Tatul Syuni, whom the journalist interviewed, told “Checked” that he does not know which media or organization the journalist represented. He could only recall the name of the journalist, Sergey. 

Mikael Badalyan clarified that he was interviewed by documentary director Seda Grigoryan, not by the journalists of the Azerbaijani channel. His words were taken out of context and twisted to spread false Azerbaijani propaganda.

As for Seda Grigoryan, she confirmed Mikayle Badalyan’s statement in a Facebook post. However, she mentioned that she had not been informed beforehand that the recorded footage would be given to the Azerbaijani channel. Seda mentioned that she had filmed the interview on December 2, per the agreement with No Frontiers LLC, an American film production company.

Seda was contacted through the website worldfixer.com by someone claiming to be an American producer named Alex Gil. All of their written communications were saved. Alex informed Seda that they were seeking a partner in Armenia to create a pilot version of a documentary series on historical topics. The documentary series would be similar to the American History Channel. Seda’s specific topic was the ancient Urartu and Urartian cultural sites.

Seda Grigoryan shared a fragment of her correspondence with Alex Gil. According to the conversation, the initial proposal was to create a documentary featuring interviews with Armenian historians and archaeologists. The purpose of the documentary would be to uncover the secrets of Urartu, one of the oldest civilizations in the world.

“Dear Seda, My name is Alex Gill, and I work as a production manager and freelancer. We are currently working on a pilot project for the History Channel, which focuses on the mysterious and lost civilizations of the world. One of the civilizations we cover is Urartu, and we need to film two interviews with Armenian historians and archaeologists. Would you be interested in working with us? Unfortunately, we have not received any replies from Alex Gil, who represents our organization. Sincerely, Alex” Seda Grigoryan communicated that Alex Gil, representing the organization, no longer responds to her messages.

No Frontiers LLC. non-existent organization

 

The organization mentioned by Seda Grigoryan is called No Frontiers Production LLC. However, we have found no evidence of the existence of such an organization in the California registry system, the OCCRP company search, or the Open Corporates platforms. Therefore, we can extrapolate that it is a non-existent organization.

Many other freelancers have been targeted

It has been found that Seda Grigoryan was not the only one targeted by fraud. According to researcher Sofya Manukyan, she was contacted on November 20, 2023, through worldfixer.com and asked to provide videos from Armenia. The first attempt was made by a user named Giovanni, who offered to speak with Armenian activists and film any possible protests on January 1. During that same period, Sofia was offered a filming opportunity for Erebuni and the underground excavations of Republic Square by Alex Gil, who claimed to work for the “History Channel.” He also suggested organizing an interview with Mikael Badalyan, director of the Historical and Archaeological Museum of Erebuni. However, Sofya found these proposals questionable and declined the offer of cooperation.

Several freelancers in Armenia have reported receiving identical messages from the user account named Alex Gil. Sona Margaryan and Yuliya Grigoryan also commented on Seda Grigoryan’s post, sharing screenshots of the letters they had received with identical content.

The “Verified” team submitted a written request to the “History Channel” to clarify any possible links between the channel and Alex Gill, who acted on their behalf. We will post the response here once we receive it.

This is not the first time

This isn’t the first time videos shot in Yerevan have made their way onto Azerbaijani media and social networks. In September of last year, protests in front of the government were broadcast live on İCTİMAİ TV’s YouTube channel. Photos of the camera operators had been posted on Facebook.

Ophelia Simonyan