Former Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan has condemned the Armenian government for barring a prominent French-Armenian community leader known for views critical of the Nikol Pashinyan administration from entering Armenia on Wednesday. 

Mourad ‘Franck’ Papazian, co-president of the Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF) and a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, said he was barred from entering Armenia on Wednesday night after touching down at Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport.

“Such an attitude on the part of Armenia’s authorities is absolutely unacceptable and contributes to the failure of Pan-Armenian unity,” Tatoyan wrote in a statement today.

Tatoyan said the move sets a bad precedent and that other diaspora Armenians may be turned away from Armenia in the future for their political affiliations.

Describing what occurred when he touched down at Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport, Papazian wrote: 

“It is with great pain that I inform you that last night I was barred from returning to Armenia. By order of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, I am persona non grata in Armenia.  Upon arriving in Yerevan, I was stopped, placed in a small room, then in a transit zone. And my passport is confiscated.”

Papazian wrote that while he knew he is banned from Azerbaijan and Turkey for his pro-Armenian work, being turned away from Armenia hit him in the gut.

The French-Armenian activist called Pashinyan a “little leader” who is not up to the task when it comes to negotiating with Aliyev and Erdogan.

“Sooner or later, the people of Armenia will understand that they will have to get rid of this leader who is doing everything to weaken Armenia,” Papazian wrote.\

Top photo: Mourad Papazian