By Ruzanna Stepanian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am) — In what opposition leaders see as yet another concession to Turkey, Armenia’s government has decided to remove an image of Mount Ararat from the entry and exit passport stamps issued by Armenian immigration officers.
The emblematic mountain located in modern-day Turkey but still regarded by Armenians as a key national symbol has been depicted in the stamps put on travelers’ passports ever since the country’s independence. This will no longer be the case starting from this November.
The government did not explain the change approved during a cabinet meeting on Thursday and revealed at the weekend. Speaking during a security forum in Yerevan on Monday, September 15, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan implied that he does not want to “annoy” Turkey anymore.
“I want to give a very simple example: you built your house within your cadastral line but you painted a picture on your house, especially on the outer walls, that symbolizes your perception that your neighbor does not deserve to have what he has,” Pashinyan said, clearly alluding to the decision that sparked an uproar from his political opponents and other critics.
Senior representatives of Armenia’s leading opposition groups insisted that the Armenian passport stamps do not amount to a territorial claim against Turkey and that Pashinyan simply keeps cozying up to Ankara with unilateral concessions. Seyran Ohanian, the parliamentary leader of the Hayastan alliance, said the controversial change may have also been demanded by the Turks.
