I am the chief negotiator on visa liberalization, and it is logical that I am informed about any internal move, one way or another, but nothing has changed in our plans, we continue to ensure our communication with European partners. Armenia’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Arpine Sargsyan, on Monday told this to reporters in parliament, regarding the process of the country’s visa liberalization with the European Union (EU).

Referring to the fact that Armenians are being deported from the US to Armenia, and EU countries are also tightening their treatment of migrants, the minister said: “When we look at the examples of various countries, we must take into account that the issue may be related, for example, to illegal migration, or to various protests that can develop into a terrorist act or any other action, a crime. That is, to make a direct comparison that if something happens in any country, it will directly affect our dialogue on visa liberalization, we cannot make such a claim.”

“In addition to this, we must take into account that in the already received [EU visa liberalization] action plan there is a rather large component on migration management. That is, European partners want to be sure that Armenia has a proper migration policy, that, for example, if illegal migrants appear in this territory, we must deport them or ensure their voluntary return, or the integrated management of the borders must be properly organized, and so on,” Sargsyan noted.

“As for the deportation of citizens of the Republic of Armenia or ethnic Armenians from various countries, these can be standard processes that can be associated, for example, with overstaying in the territory. These are the migration policies of any country that are being implemented. And if there is a violation of the rule, it is logical that any deviation from discipline is responded to by each state,” she said.

“I can’t say numerical data, because these are individual cases carried out at the level of each state. That is, it’s not like they’re deporting Armenians specifically from any country, or they’ve decided to deport them in large groups,” concluded Armenia’s minister of internal affairs.