Tbilisi rejects Armenian rally outside Turkish embassy

The Armenian community in Georgia has stated that it was not granted permission to hold a rally outside the Turkish Embassy on April 24.

Jeanette Baghdasaryan, a member of the community council and secretary of the organisation, told journalists that the group had submitted a request to the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, but received a refusal.

According to Baghdasaryan, the Interior Ministry referred to the Law on Assemblies and Manifestations, under which public gatherings must not disrupt residents living and working in the area where a demonstration is planned.

The ministry proposed that the Armenian community hold the event at an alternative location. However, Baghdasaryan said it was “a matter of principle” for local Armenians to gather specifically outside the Turkish Embassy, continuing a tradition “established over the past twenty years.”

By Vafa Guliyeva