Lebanese Tourism Minister under fire after choosing Armenia over Lebanon

When asked if he preferred Armenia or Lebanon, the Lebanese Minister of Tourism chose Armenia. Evidently, this resulted in quite the outrage among the Lebanese people, reports.

The Minister, Avedis Guidanian, is also the deputy chairman of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun.

During the interview on Al Jadeed’s “Talk of the Town” show where the host, Mona Abou Hamze, asked him questions to which he could only choose between 2 options.

Among the questions, he was asked to choose between Israel and Turkey – which he refused to answer.

Then when he was asked to choose between Armenia and Lebanon, he quickly chose Armenia.

Understandably, Armenia is his mother country and he is a member of one of the main Armenian parties. Lebanon and Armenia have close relations – especially due to the fact that we both faced persecution from the same oppressor – the Ottoman (modern day Turkey). Lebanon became a safe haven for many Armenians fleeing the genocide.

Following his response, the audience applauded him and the host commended him on choosing his “motherland.”

Many people didn’t like his response. Following the outcry, he issued a statement saying the following:

“Let’s make things clear, I am a Lebanese with Armenian roots, Lebanon is my home country.”

There was an outcry among Turkish people – calling him racist – for his comments towards Turkey.

“I would not promote anything related to Turkey, none of their products, or establish relations with them. I cannot prevent Turks from coming to Lebanon and I do not want to welcome them at an airport,” he said.

The series of questions start at the 21-minute mark but this is the full interview: