ARMENIA APPROVES LAW ON DUAL CITIZENSHIP

Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
Feb 26 2007

YEREVAN – Armenia’s parliament has passed a bill giving ethnic
Armenians the right to hold dual citizenship, a measure which could
almost quadruple the number of its nationals around the world.

Wedged between Georgia, Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan, Armenia has a
population of just 3.2 million and a diaspora of 8 million spread
across the globe, mainly in the United States, Russia and France.

The law, passed in the final second reading on Monday, allows
all emigres to attain Armenian citizenship. Armenia’s president,
parliament deputies and constitutional court judges are not entitled
to dual citizenship, according to the law.

Armenians voted in favour of dual citizenship in a November 2005
referendum.

Most Armenians fled their home land at the end of World War One
following mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915. Turkey
denies there was systematic genocide and says Armenian deaths were
part of inter-ethnic fighting, disease and famine in which both
sides suffered.

Under the law, emigres with dual citizenship can vote in national
elections only if they obtain a local residence permit.