The Armenian authorities on Friday issued an explanation regarding the decision to deny entry to French-Armenian community leader Mourad (Franck) Papazian, Armenpress reports.
The Prime Minister’s Office said that Papazian, Chairman of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF) and a citizen of France, was barred from entering Armenia under the domestic law because he was among those who “organized the attack” on the official motorcade of the Armenian PM’s delegation in France earlier in June, 2021.
“The said person was denied entry into the Republic of Armenia based on Clause G and Z, Article 8 of the law on foreign nationals. This person is one of the organizers of the attack on the official motorcade – displaying the state flag of Armenia – of the governmental delegation led by the Prime Minister near the Armenian Embassy in France on June 1 last year.
“Various objects and items were thrown in the direction of the motorcade. The official Armenian flag-bearing car carrying the Prime Minister was attacked and the situation was resolved only as a result of intervention by French police and security forces,” Pashinyan’s office said.
Speaking to Panorama.am, ARF Supreme Body member and opposition Hayastan bloc MP Gegham Manukyan dismissed the authorities’ explanation as “disgraceful”.
"It is hard to imagine a more disgraceful explanation that the Armenian authorities could ever offer regarding a Diaspora public figure or an Armenian citizen,” he said, adding it points to the authorities’ “vengeful attitude and rejection of political dissent.”
As for Mourad Papazian being "one of those who organized the attack on the motorcade carrying the Armenian flag", Manukyan said: "The current authorities are so stupid that they don’t even understand the powers, rights and duties of the institutions.”
"Mourad Papazian has always defended the interests of the Armenian people, protesting against the Turks, French authorities and even Armenian government members. But it had never occurred to anyone to ban him from entering Armenia because of his political views.
“It is stated once again that Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan have declared Mourad Papazian persona non grata, or rather Nikol, Aliyev and Erdogan have declared him persona non grata," the MP noted.
He recalled that in 2010, when then President Serzh Sargsyan visited France against the backdrop of football diplomacy, Papazian staged a protest outside the monument to Komitas in Paris and clashed with police, but the authorities never considered banning him from Armenia.
