Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to France was not so encouraging. Murad Papazyan, the chairman of the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations of France, who was banned from entering Armenia by Pashinyan and who succeeded in removing this restriction by a court decision, told Pashinyan in the presence of Macron that he recognizes him as “persona non grata”. This was an unacceptable step.
Publika.az reports that Murad Papazyan himself informed “Hraparak” about this.
“When the event at the Pantheon ended, Macron met me and said that he told Nikol Pashinyan to gather for dinner and talk. At the end of the dinner, he called me and Ara Toranya. I, Macron, Nikol Pashinyan and Ara Toranyan met. Macron opened the topic himself, he said that he wants us to be able to talk together, because on one side is the Prime Minister of Armenia elected by the Armenian people, and on the other side are the leaders of the French community. Macron said that he wants us to use the opportunity and to be able to talk. I started the speech and told Pashinyan that I want to speak in French because I want to respect the French president. Let the translator come and translate for Nikol Pashinyan.
I said to Pashinyan: Mr. Prime Minister, I must speak the truth and say what I must say today. I find it completely unacceptable that you ban entry to Armenia. Because in the first place you had no right to take such a step, after 19 months it was confirmed that there was no reason. We have differences of opinion, I am in the opposition, I seriously criticized and condemned your policy, but this is my right in a democratic country and I will use that right. No one can prevent me from using this right.
Then I said: With this action, you further divided the diaspora and Armenia, and even your supporters had problems because they felt deceived. You tried to weaken the Diaspora. I said that we can have a difference of opinion, it is not a problem, in democratic life we can disagree with each other, we can argue, we can criticize each other and you have to accept that. You must accept that we do not agree with you on the Karabakh issue, we do not agree with the agreement with Azerbaijan, we do not agree with you on the changes to the constitution. You have to accept that political life involves agreements and disagreements,” Papazyan said.
According to him, after hearing these words, Nikol Pashinyan was angry at first, and then he answered: “He was just angry and said, why are you talking about politics in front of the French president? It’s a shame. I said, it’s not a shame, because it was the French president who took the initiative. Macron should talk about problems wanted to gather us for, and I say this problem sincerely.
Nikol Pashinyan said: Do you know why I forbade you to come to Armenia? I said no, he continued. Because you organized a demonstration on June 1, 2021 and attacked my car. I said, Mr. Prime Minister, it is a lie, I did not organize it. He said: I know it is you. I said that if you were so sure that it was me, then MTN would have presented those facts to the court, but after 19 months, no facts were presented to the court. Therefore, you cannot be sure that I organized it, and I tell you that I have nothing to do with that demonstration. But even if I organized that demonstration, this is my right and freedom. We can organize demonstrations in a democratic country. You carried out your revolution with demonstrations, but no one took you to prison, no one condemned you, you were not banned from anything.
Ara Toranyan was with me, he said to Pashinyan: I can assure you that Murad did not organize that demonstration. His attitude towards Toranyan was very bad, he said: why are you talking, how do you know? Toranyan “I know because we are always together, I know he didn’t do it,” he said.
Papazyan said that he also talked with Macron: “I said to Macron: Mr. President, to be honest, this person should protect us, this person should lead Armenia. Should this person talk to Putin, Aliyev and Erdogan? You gave the leadership of Armenia to a person of this level. I said, To be honest, Mr. President, it’s our fault, it’s the Armenian people’s fault that they have such a leader at their head. He really has no level, he gets angry easily because he’s ignorant. Shame on him for getting angry so quickly in front of the French president, I always calmly and calmly handle issues presented, condemned and criticized him.
The French president told me that he should be angry with Pashinyan. The conversation ended, Macron took Pashinyan away, they talked separately for about 5 minutes, I saw that Pashinyan was angry. After the event, I left and said goodbye to Pashinyan. I said: thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, we can disagree with each other, that’s not a problem. He interrupted me and said, “Did you win the case in court?” I said yes, I won, but you can still appeal by tomorrow evening. He said, I will not complain, I will tell MTN not to complain. The French president told him not to apply. It was a reality.”
