Armenian Parliament refers to RT-chief Simonyan, family as "unthinking slaves"

“The Republic of Armenia cannot remain indifferent to any person demonstrating disrespect to the territorial integrity of the Republic and is voicing ill-mannered statements regarding Armenia, no matter whether they represent a foreign government or not”.

As Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media outlets, this is the response given by Alen Simonyan Head of the Armenian National Assembly, regarding the recently issued entry ban into the country against Margarita Simonyan.

"We consider the borders of the Armenian Republic as a ‘red line’ and consequently all those friends and partners have to consider this reality", the parliamentarian added.

Further commenting on the situation around the Editor-in-Chief of the Russian state news agency, RT (Russia Today) who is of Armenian ethnicity but holds Russian citizenship, he noted, that he is not aware of a ban against Simonyan, however, he did not exclude that such a ban could also apply to her husband, film director and TV host Tigran Keosayan, as well as other “foreign agents” (referring to persons carrying out the interests of a foreign country) and “mankurts” (referring to an unthinking slave, a term first coined by Kyrgyz author Chinghiz Aitmatov).

This would also apply to people from countries with Armenian names which demonstrate a disrespectful relationship to Armenia and its independence or to those who think they can afford to insult former Leaders of Armenia, even in private conversation, hinting at Margarita Simonyan's past public criticism of former presidents.

The RT Editor-in-Chief publicly announced her ban on travelling to the native country of her ancestors on Telegram, writing “The Armenian boss has banned Konstantin Zatulin, an outspoken supporter of Armenia over many years, from entering the country. Me too, by the way”.

Caliber.Az recalls, that the Armenian National Assembly sent a letter to Konstantin Zatulin on October 25, informing him of a travel ban having been issued against him as well as having been labelled an “undesirable person” in Armenia. Zatulin is a Member of the Russian Duma [parliament] and is being heavily promoted by the Armenian diaspora in Russia. He repeatedly appears on Russian state media channels with harsh comments against Azerbaijan and vehemently defended the illegal occupation of Karabakh by Armenian separatist forces.