The Armenian Foreign Ministry explained the criteria for issuing an Armenian passport to Sevan Nişanyan.

“There are certain criteria for providing a passport of Armenian citizen. Everyone who meets these demands can get a passport,” Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan told reporters.

Her remarks came in response to comment on issuing an Armenian passport to Nişanyan.

As reported earlier, Istanbul Armenian intellectual and linguist Sevan Nişanyan on Thursday received a Republic of Armenia passport, at the Armenian embassy in Athens.

“I received my Armenian passport and citizenship papers today from Mr Fadey Charchoghliyan, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia in Athens,” Nişanyan wrote in a Facebook post. “I take pride in being a member of a peaceful and civilized nation that has withstood the tribulations of history by its labor alone.”

Nişanyan, who was in a Turkish prison since 2014, had gone on a prison furlough, but he had not returned to prison. Later it became known that the Greek authorities had granted him temporary residence permit.

Sevan Nişanyan was sentenced to 11 years in prison by Turkish courts, and for carrying out illegal construction.

Nişanyan has always spoken openly about Armenian Genocide and has stood out by his fearless position.