Armenian Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Tigran Balayan, in an interview with Aravot.am assured that their Ministry is taking measures for the restoration of the rights of Armenians appeared in the “black lists” of Russian Federation and Georgia to enter these countries. We inquired about the specific agreements reached with the Georgian and Russian sides, Mr. Balayan preferred not to give details, explaining this way: “Currently, there is a lot of work going on however I cannot detail on the content. The mentioned issues are among our issues to be discussed with other countries. Currently, I cannot say anything about the process and the results.”
We inquired whether he considers it possible that these issues will be resolved in the future and people appeared on the “black list” will be able to have an access to Russia and Georgia, Mr. Balayan again refrained from giving a specific answer. Recall that in April this year, the Georgian authorities without presenting any argument banned the access of the member of the Scout Movement World Committee, Bagrat Yesayan, to neighboring country Georgia.
To add that there is a “black list” in Georgia according to which the access of about 8 Armenian figures to Georgia is banned without any substantiation. These people are: Shirak Torosyan, Stepan Margaryan, Hovhannes Ayvazyan, Samvel Karapetyan, historian Vahe Sargsyan, Head of “Yerkir” Union Sevak Artsruni, recently also sports commentator Karen Giloyan. The same problem exists in the case of Russia. For example, the head of the Center for Globalization and Regional Research, Stepan Grigoryan, on August 30, at 08:00 am arrive at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport in 2014 to visit the tomb of his father, Gevorg Grigoryan, buried in Russia for which he had only 10 hours as the night of the same day he had to return to Yerevan. However, according to Grigoryan, he was unable to enter the Russian Federation as he was arrested by the Russian border guards, and as it became known, his entry into the Russian Federation is prohibited until 2030 about which he was informed by the Russian border guards.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
