In the center of the world attention are the events proceeding in Egypt, which got especially intensified during the recent days. The number of victims and injured is increasing as a result of collisions with the loyalists of Mubarak. The majority of governments are evacuating their citizens. Under these circumstances the Armenian government not only doesn’t arrange the evacuation of its citizens but by its cynically passive behavior and statements makes the Armenians once again feel the carelessness of the state about its citizens. Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan told the journalists that about 40 Armenians, some of them Egyptian citizens, have expressed a desire to leave the unrest-stricken country. He said the Armenian Embassy in Cairo has advised them to fly to Yerevan at their own expense. “The Embassy has issued a statement urging them to make use of regular flights. The Cairo airport now works in the regular regime,” said Balayan. One Armenian family returned to Yerevan, he added. The Foreign Ministry says there are currently no Armenian citizens in Tunisia and estimates the number of them remaining in Egypt at about 230. More than 160 of them are tourists spending holiday in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. They are scheduled to return home early on February 6. But Armenia doesn’t have an official decision to evacuate its citizens from Cairo the embassy advised them to return to Armenia at their own expense. At this moment, the measures taken by the Egyptian authorities are sufficient for tourists’ safety, and evacuation of Armenian citizens is not being discussed yet. However, appropriate steps could be taken in the event of a negative development of the situation. Egypt is also home to an ethnic Armenian community numbering several thousand people, most of them descendants of Armenia. In fact the problem is not the technical side of the return of Armenian citizens to Armenia. Regular and normal flights have other countries as well. Regardless of that fact these countries evacuate their citizens themselves. The state and official evacuation also has a political and moral significance and literally shows to what extent the state protects its citizens. On the other hand, this attitude of our government is both condemnable and legitimate. With an interesting coincidence the governmental circles are currently discussing the establishment of a bicameral parliament, which is first of all directed against the Armenian citizenship institution.
