As I was returning to Tbilisi from Europe on September 16th, Georgian border authorities denied my entry to the country again. This time around they detained me for 4 hours and then put me on an airplane sending me back to Europe. I had a return ticket to Yerevan for September 18 from Tbilisi, however they told me that by Georgian legislation if the person is denied an entry they have to send him back to the country of departure.
All these are technicalities, the biggest problem here is the fact that no one has explained to me the reason why I was denied entry to Georgia, where I lived for over 5 years, created a media, co-founded various organizations, helped build bridges between Armenia-Georgia and so on.
Georgia has been and is a second homeland for me and those who know me understand how much this denial means to me.
By now I have no doubt that this entry denial aka deportation is political, which ultimately means that current Georgian authorities are either afread of people like me or have patrons from Moscow or Baku telling them to “clear up the space” before the elections.
Six weeks before the parliamentary elections the ruling Georgian dream party seems not to care about gaining new friends, but is making new enemies with actions like this. One thing is more than clear to me, I will be going back to Georgia and it will be very soon.
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There is no way that any power in the world can make Georgia a country like Belarus, the people of Georgia are simply too mature and strong as a civil society, thus this can only be a short authoritarian notion “a Belarus vacation” as one great American friend had put it but never a reality to stay!!!
Arsen Kharatyan
