Armenians in Egypt maintain permanent contact with embassy – Foreign Ministry

The hotline telephone service operating at the Armenian Embassy in Cairo has received hundreds of calls since its launch, the spokesperson of the Armenian Foreign Ministry told Tert.am.

Tigran Balayan also said that the ministry maintains permanent contact with Armenia’s Embassy in Cairo, adding that at the moment the Armenians there are in normal situation.

“Armenia’s embassy in Egypt keeps contact with the Armenians living there to be aware of their situation,” he said. “Many Armenians have called the embassy, expressed willingness to come to Armenia. But they have been informed that no decision on evacuation has been made yet.”

About 8,000 Armenians are living in Egypt.

Asked about the main concerns of the Armenians in Egypt, Balayan said they were particularly interested to know what they can undertake under the circumstances or what places they can move to.

According to him, given Armenia has made no decision over evacuating its citizens from Egypt, the Armenian citizens should organize their return to Armenia themselves, if they decide so.

As of Sunday, five Armenian national students have come to the Armenian embassy in Cairo.

Earlier, Balayan had told Tert.am that the Armenian families there are not exposed to any threat.

“Groups have been formed in all the districts to protect the residents from hooligans. The Armenians, the majority of whom are residing in Helipolis suburb, have also organized [such groups],” Balayan had said.

Egypt was shaken by a wave of street demonstrations and clashed with riot police in Cairo since last week that left hundreds wounded and many dead.

The uprising was sparked by increased food prices and high unemployment rate. The demonstrations demanded the resignation of the president Hosni Mubarak who is in office for about 30 years now.

Egypt has since cut off the internet in the country and text messaging services have been disrupted – one of the main means to gathering people to the streets.