Mr. Prime Minister, what should these young people do now? - Naira Zohrabyan

Prosperous Armenia Party MP Naira Zohrabyan has written on her Facebook page: “Mr. Prime Minister, what should these young people do now? Here are these three wonderful girls—Angelina Koghur, Arevik Zakaryan, and Tatevik Sahakyan—who have appealed to me, and now I am addressing you, Mr. Prime Minister, as applying to the Ministry of Science, Education and Culture, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has proven fruitless.

The girls are students at Brusov State University and have applied to the Erasmus+ program with the university's MOG offices, and they have been selected for study in Latvia. Thus, Arevik, Tatevik, and Angelina have received credits under the Erasmus+ mobility program to study in Europe and were supposed to leave for Latvia to start their studies in September. However, due to the closure of our borders, they are unable to go.

Naturally, they are also unable to obtain exit visas. “This is one of the most important achievements of our lives; we have a unique opportunity to receive quality education and to be useful to our homeland. But today we are left ‘hanging in the air’,” Angelina wrote to me.

The girls have approached the Latvian embassy in Georgia, but they refused to issue visas due to the closure of the border between Georgia and Armenia. They have also reached out to the Latvian embassy in Minsk but received no official response, just being informed that the embassy does not have the authority to issue them visas. Angelina, Tatevik, and Arevik have also contacted the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and once again, there has been no response. They have also approached the Minister of Education and Science, who redirected them back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

My question, Mr. Prime Minister, is very straightforward: undoubtedly, these talented girls are not the only ones who have been accepted into European universities and, as a result of the emergency regime, are unable to go because of closed borders. I really want to help Angelina, Arevik, Tatevik, and all the other young individuals who have been accepted into foreign educational institutions, and classes will commence in 20 days; however, they cannot even obtain an exit visa due to our closed borders. Honestly, I want to help very much, but I do not know how.

Maybe you could suggest what Angelina, Arevik, Tatevik, and our other young people who have been accepted to foreign universities should do. After all, as a state, do we have a responsibility towards these young people or not? For some reason, it seems to me that we have a great responsibility towards these young people.”