On March 16, the youth wing of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun, “Nikol Aghbalyan” Students’ union and other youth organizations held a protest action in front of the Russian Embassy in Yerevan against Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Moscow. The visit was scheduled for March 16, which marks the 90th anniversary of the Treaty of Moscow (signing a treaty Turkey and Russia in fact divided the territory of the Republic of Armenia).

Representatives of youth organization consider that by confirming this particular date of Erdogan’s visit to Moscow, the Russian authorities hurt the national feelings of their strategic partner Armenia. The protestors were carrying flags of Armenia and ARF Dashnaktsutyun, banners with inscriptions “Erdogan=Ataturk, Medvedev=Lenin?”, “Fraternize with anyone you want, but not at the expense of Armenians.”

The demonstrators also prepared a special statement to convey the officers of the Russian Embassy. However, the Russian diplomats did not meet them.  The security told the demonstrators there was nobody at the embassy at that moment. The young protestors decided to stay near the Embassy until their statement is conveyed to embassy employees. As Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent reports from the site, the participants are signing patriotic songs and shout “Shame”.

As reported earlier, Russian politicians and political scientists do not link the date of Erdogan’s visit with the 90th anniversary of “Treaty of Moscow.” In an interview with Armenian News-NEWS.am, RF State Duma member, MP from “United Russia” party Sergey Markov said big nations are not concerned over many problems of smaller nations. Deputy Director of Strategic Culture Foundation Andrei Areshev said that Turkish Premier’s visit to Moscow should not be conditioned by historical implications.