THE MOTHERLAND BECKONS
by Emil Danielyan
Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Feb 28 2007
Armenia is about to allow millions of its emigrants and their
descendants worldwide to gain dual citizenship. From EurasiaNet.
Armenia’s parliament approved a package of amendments 26 February
that gives millions of ethnic Armenians around the world the chance
to obtain Armenian citizenship without abandoning their current
nationality. The vote came after weeks of heated debate that exposed
major differences on the issue within the country’s leadership.
Prime Minister Andranik Markarian’s Republican Party, which boasts the
largest parliamentary faction, joined opposition parties in voicing
serious misgivings about the proposed amendments. They particularly
objected to a clause giving dual citizens a virtually unrestricted
right to vote in Armenian elections. In the end, Republican Party
lawmakers reluctantly voted for the government-drafted bill, apparently
under strong pressure from President Robert Kocharian, who had pledged
to introduce dual citizenship when he came to power in 1998. The idea
has also been championed by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
(ARF, also known as the Dashnak Party), another member of Kocharian’s
governing coalition. The nationalist party, which has many chapters and
adherents in Armenian Diaspora communities, is the only parliamentary
force that unconditionally backed the legislative package.
"Allowing dual citizenship means strengthening Armenia," said Hrayr
Karapetian, an ARF leader, at a 16 February news briefing. "It means
increasing our population [of 3 million,] reinforcing our army,
spurring investments in our economy, and, in general, utilizing the
potential of the entire Armenian nation for the benefit of Armenia."
Karapetian and other ARF leaders cite the example of Israel, which
readily grants Israeli citizenship to Jews from around the world.
Just like the non-Israeli Jews, the Diaspora Armenians, mainly living
in the United States, Russia, Europe, and the Middle East, greatly
outnumber the population of their historical homeland. Estimates of
their total number vary from 5 million to 6 million. Most of them are
descendants of the survivors of the 1915 mass killings and deportations
of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.
The administration of Armenia’s first post-Soviet president, Levon
Ter-Petrosian, opposed the concept of dual citizenship, prohibiting it
through an article of the country’s post-Soviet constitution adopted
in 1995. (The ban was repealed as part of constitutional amendments
enacted by the Kocharian administration in a disputed November 2005
referendum.) Ter-Petrosian and his allies asserted that Armenia’s
national security and independence would be jeopardized if its
citizens were allowed to have allegiance to other states. They were
also believed to have feared that dual nationality would translate
into a significant increase in the ARF electoral clout. At the time,
the ARF was at loggerheads with Ter-Petrosian’s administration.
The major opposition parties currently represented in parliament
likewise see ulterior motives behind the ARF’s strong support for the
politically sensitive idea. They have demanded that a final decision
on dual citizenship be postponed until after the May parliamentary
elections and the presidential ballot due early next year. Kocharian,
however, is expected to sign the bill probably next month.
ARF leaders have vociferously denied any connection between the bill
in question and the polls. In particular, they point to one of the
amendments stipulating that voters would be able to vote in elections
only within Armenia. This means that there will no longer be polling
stations at Armenian diplomatic missions abroad.
Still, the Republican Party appeared to share the opposition’s
concerns; it insisted that residents of Armenia and its future
citizens living abroad must not enjoy equal political rights. "The
fate of the Republic of Armenia must be primarily decided by the
people who are aware of and affected by its problems," Parliamentary
Speaker Tigran Torosian, a leading member of the governing party,
told fellow deputies on 22 February.
Under an opposition-backed amendment proposed by the Republican Party,
a Diaspora-based dual citizen can vote in an Armenian election only if
he or she has lived in Armenia during at least one of the preceding
five years. Justice Minister David Harutiunian, who presented
the bill on behalf of the government, rejected the amendment as
unconstitutional. The only restriction the government agreed to place
on dual citizens is that they cannot run for president and parliament.
The final version of the bill says that such citizens shall otherwise
have all the rights and obligations of regular Armenian nationals.
The most significant of those obligations applies to men. They must
report for military duty in case of a war or mass mobilization. Those
dual citizens who are under 28 years old and have not served in the
armed forces of their native countries for at least 12 months must
complete a two-year military service in Armenia.
Whether many foreign nationals of Armenian descent are actually keen
to get Armenian passports remains to be seen. They have for years
been eligible for special 10-year residency permits that allow them
to live, work, and, unlike other foreigners, own land in Armenia.
Quite a few already have such permits.
Alex Sardar, an Armenian-American who has lived in Yerevan for almost
five years, welcomes the legalization of dual citizenship, saying
that it will give Diaspora Armenians a "very specific and tangible
connection to their homeland." Asked by EurasiaNet whether he himself
will apply for Armenian citizenship, Sardar said, "If I were to speak
emotionally, I would probably say yes. If I am speaking rationally,
my answer would be that I have to think long and hard about that."
"I’m quite happy with my 10-year residency visa and don’t need Armenian
citizenship," said another Diaspora Armenian who moved to Armenia
from the United Kingdom in the late 1990s. "Actually, I am afforded
more rights here being foreign than I am being an Armenian citizen."
Having an Armenian passport should seem more attractive to hundreds
and possibly thousands of ethnic Armenians who have repatriated in
recent years from neighboring Iran and Arab states like Syria and
Lebanon. But ultimately, it is natives of Armenia who might emerge
as the main beneficiaries of dual citizenship. Hundreds of thousands
emigrated to Russia and other countries following the economic slump
of the early 1990s. Many have since become citizens of those countries
without surrendering their Armenian passports. They will now not have
to hide that from the Armenian authorities anymore.
Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and political analyst.
This is a partner post from EurasiaNet.