Epress.am News from Armenia
Leader of the Powerful Turkey Party (GTP) Tuna Beklevic has been detained in Yerevan, GTP said on Friday, according to various Turkish and Armenian reports.
Beklevic and accompanying GTP members have been detained by Armenian national security service agents following their press conference in the Armenian capital earlier this morning, GTP said in a statement.
On Oct. 10, a year after the signing of protocols between Turkey and Armenia (a move to normalize relations) Beklevic crossed the Armenia-Turkey border through the Akhurian River to protest the closed border.
The Russian border troops in Armenia that guard the border denied the media reports that surfaced on October 11 quoting Beklevic and his colleagues as saying that they had crossed the border into Armenia.
“We crossed via a three-flight bridge located about 150 meters to the north of the ruins of Ani, where the river narrows and is quite shallow. There were candy papers on both sides of the river, which means that the path has been in use,” Beklevic told journalists in Yerevan this morning.
“This was an action to condemn the activities of the two states. We don’t consider this an illegal action, but rather a call to the world for the border to be opened,” he said, as quoted by media.
Updated at 3:58 pm on Oct. 29, 2010: Armenian National Security Service (NSS) press spokesperson Ardzvi Bagramyan confirmed the news of Beklevic’s arrest.
According to him, “the Turkish politicians have been invited to the NSS to provide explanations,” since Beklevic made a statement at today’s press conference that he crossed the Armenia-Turkey border.