Re: Iranians in Armenia
The only thing that worries me about Iranians visiting Armenia is that 'Iranians' is a broad term and, like it has been pointed out in this thread, many of them are actually Azaris. While the Azaris should not be compared to Azerbaijanis (they are indeed different), there is still a sleeper Grey Wolf movement within the province of Azarbaijan that could possibly use this 'loophole' to sneak into Armenia and spy or cause trouble from within. Besides in the form of tourism, I have also heard many of the truck drivers that bring in goods from Iran to Armenia for example are ethnic Azaris.
Besides the Azari stuff, there really is not much to worry about. Nothing but good could come out of Iranians visiting Armenia and spending money there and going back to Iran. Iran and Iranians are friends of Armenia. Many of them come here to drink in order to escape Iranian Islamic laws. Check this good article for example http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7514341.stm . As for prostitution, Armenia has bigger fish to fry in the form of Armenian prostitutes going (willingly and unwillingly) to Turkey and more prominently to Dubai. A rare case of our authorities actually doing something about it was this year when a female Armenian pimp got 14 years for trafficking our women to Dubai (see http://hetq.am/en/court/anush-martirosyan-3/).
The only thing that worries me about Iranians visiting Armenia is that 'Iranians' is a broad term and, like it has been pointed out in this thread, many of them are actually Azaris. While the Azaris should not be compared to Azerbaijanis (they are indeed different), there is still a sleeper Grey Wolf movement within the province of Azarbaijan that could possibly use this 'loophole' to sneak into Armenia and spy or cause trouble from within. Besides in the form of tourism, I have also heard many of the truck drivers that bring in goods from Iran to Armenia for example are ethnic Azaris.
Besides the Azari stuff, there really is not much to worry about. Nothing but good could come out of Iranians visiting Armenia and spending money there and going back to Iran. Iran and Iranians are friends of Armenia. Many of them come here to drink in order to escape Iranian Islamic laws. Check this good article for example http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7514341.stm . As for prostitution, Armenia has bigger fish to fry in the form of Armenian prostitutes going (willingly and unwillingly) to Turkey and more prominently to Dubai. A rare case of our authorities actually doing something about it was this year when a female Armenian pimp got 14 years for trafficking our women to Dubai (see http://hetq.am/en/court/anush-martirosyan-3/).
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