Dual citizenship bill likely to expand diaspora’s impact in Armenia

Today’s Zaman
23.02.07

A bill adopted earlier this week by Armenia’s Parliament has paved the
way for naturalization of Armenia’s massive and influential foreign
diaspora abroad as it allows them dual citizenship.

While the Armenian opposition objects to the idea of giving a say to
those who live abroad concerning the fate of the country, the bill
also led to concerns in Turkey because of the diaspora’s hard-line
stance on genocide allegations against Turkey.

Yerevan took the first step toward adopting this law in 2005 when a
referendum struck from the country’s constitution an article
forbidding dual citizenship. Wedged between Georgia, Turkey, Iran and
Azerbaijan, Armenia has a population of just 3.2 million but a
diaspora of 8 million spread across the globe, mainly in the US,
Russia and France.

"We can easily say that the Armenian diaspora is moving in next door
and Armenia can no longer be described as an independent country,"
Dr. Sedat Laçiner, head of the Ankara-based International Strategic
Research Organization (ISRO/USAK), told Today’s Zaman Thursday when
asked about possible impacts of this new bill on neighboring Armenia.

Armenia’s current President Robert Kocharian is known with his close
relations with the Armenian diaspora, unlike his predecessor Levon
Ter-Petrossyan, who served between 1991 and 1998, Laçiner explained,
noting that Ter-Petrossyan was very careful about his relations with
the influential diaspora.

"Most of all, Ter-Petrossyan was always careful about not letting the
diaspora as well as Russia intervene in the domestic affairs of his
country," he added.

As soon as he came to power, Ter-Petrossyan’s successor Kocharian
began to act in line with the diaspora’s policies, Laçiner said.

"The diaspora was already influential concerning Armenia’s policies,
but now its impact on overall policies will be much more stronger," he
emphasized, while bringing to mind that the Armenian diaspora had
already bought much property in Armenia. "They live in those houses
only for the summer or for a limited period of time in the
year. During the rest of the year those houses are empty, thus they
are not bought for investment."

Ankara and Yerevan have no diplomatic relations and the border between
the two countries has been shut since 1993 because of Armenia’s
unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia accuses Turkey of genocide in the killings of up to 1.5
million Anatolian Armenians during World War I under the rule of the
Ottoman Empire. Turkey staunchly denies accusations, arguing that
Armenian deaths were part of general partisan fighting in which both
sides suffered.

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