Another compatriot has been banned from entering Armenia․ The case is about Areni Markossian, a member of the Washington “Ani” branch of the ARF Armenian Youth Federation, a member of the Central Board of the US Eastern Region Youth Union of the Armenian Youth Federation, a US citizen, who was coming to Armenia from Lebanon and would later return to Washington. Areni shared a video message about the incident on her Instagram page. She said they took her passport and made her wait for 4.5 hours. Areni says that every time she asked why she stayed at the airport and why they didn’t allow her to enter Armenia, she was answered with silence, or they said they didn’t know. According to Areni, one of the employees of the relevant service said with a laugh: “Don’t you know you’ll light up here tonight?”
Aravot.am asked MP Gegham Manukyan, a member of ARF and the NA deputy, to comment on the incident of banning Areni Markossian’s entry into Armenia. “Since yesterday morning, Areni Markossian has not been allowed to enter Armenia without any justification or explanation. Yesterday, we went to the airport with the deputies; the border guards did not give any explanation; they stopped us for hours to see if there would be a new explanation during working hours. They even did not explain if the entry is denied, is the person returned to the country of her arrival, Lebanon, or the country of her citizenship, USA, or what?” said Gegham Manukyan.
We asked: what do they think? Why are they not allowing Areni Markossian to enter Armenia? “Naturally, she is a member of the ARF youth group; these authorities have the usual lists to ban the entry of ARF members to Armenia,” said the deputy.
Later, we learned from RA NA “Armenia” faction deputy Christine Vardanyan that after keeping Areni Markossian at the airport for 24 hours and forcing her to spend the night there without her belongings, they informed her that she was an unwanted person in her homeland and forced her to return to Lebanon, from where she arrived in Armenia.
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Gohar HAKOBYAN
In the photo: Areni Markossian calls the US to send aid to Artsakh on February 2, 2023, during the Capitol Defense Day protest.
