All Headline News
Feb 22 2007

Armenia’s Officials Push Dual Nationality Initiative To Increase
Population

February 22, 2007 6:09 a.m. EST

Komfie Manalo – All Headline News Correspondent
Yerevan, Armenia (AHN) – The government of Armenia, facing the
prospect of declining population and diaspora, has introduced a
legislation granting dual nationality to immigrants who would want to
settle in the country.

Currently, Armenia has a population of just 3.2 million but experts
estimate the number of Armenian living outside the country to number
about eight million. Most of these Armenians live in Russia, France,
Iran the U.S.

According to the bill, ethnic Armenians who speak Armenian, as well
as foreigners married to an Armenian, would benefit from the new
legislation.

Remittances from Armenians working abroad are crucial for the
country’s economy as it brings in needed foreign reserve. The
National Bank of Armenia said remittances from the diaspora is more
than twice the country’s annual budget.

The proposal to grand dual citizenship was first introduced in
November 2005 through a referendum. The new law abolishes a clause in
the constitution which prohibits dual nationality.

Historically, the exodus of Armenians outside the country started
some 2,000 years ago, but the volume increased after the Ottoman
Turks massacred Armenians between 1915 to 1917.

Armenia is a small landlocked country. It still has bitter disputes
with its neighbors Turkey and Azerbaijan. The influence of Russia,
formerly Armenia’s colonial master – remains strong.

Armenia has been populated since prehistoric times, and has been
proposed as the site of the Biblical Garden of Eden. Armenia lies in
the highlands surrounding the Biblical mountains of Ararat, upon
which, as tradition states, Noah’s Ark came to rest after the flood.

Archaeologists continue to uncover evidence that Armenia and the
Armenian Highlands were among the earliest sites of early human
civilization. From 6000 B.C. to 1000 B.C., tools and trinkets of
copper, bronze and iron were commonly produced in Armenia and traded
in neighboring lands where those metals were less abundant.

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