CNN Turk director calls blue mosque 'Turkish' during Armenia visit

PanARMENIAN.Net - CNN Turk’s news director, Idris Arikan, referred to both Yerevan in general and the Persian Blue Mosque in the city center as “historically Turkish” in a report covering his media tour in Armenia. His statement quickly caught the attention of American journalist Lindsey Snell, who shared it on the social media platform X, according to Sputnik Armenia.

Idris Arikan visited Yerevan as part of a delegation of Turkish journalists who met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last week and conducted an interview with him. Their trip was organized at Armenia’s invitation and funded by the country’s state budget.

One of the organizers of the Turkish media tour, Gor Tsarukyan, head of the Public Relations and Information Center at the Armenian Prime Minister’s Office, clarified on Facebook that CNN Turk initially produced a relatively balanced report. However, under pressure from Azerbaijan, a second, biased, and anti-Armenian segment was later filmed, which included the controversial statement about the Blue Mosque.

The second report was later removed from CNN Turk’s YouTube channel but remains available on the network’s official website.