THE STAGES OF EMIGRATION FROM ARMENIA

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
Published on April 30, 2008
Armenia

International conference under the title "Emigration Tendencies from
Armenia to the Russian Federation: the role of the civil society,
network cooperation and a dialogue between the state and the society"
launched in Yerevan yesterday.

Massive emigration from Armenia started from 1988 and the first huge
flow has been recorded in 1988-1992: this was the first stage of
the massive resettlement. According to the Head of Migration Agency
under the Ministry of the Territorial Governance Gagik Yeganyan the
first stage of the massive emigration was conditioned by certain
extraordinary factors. The first factor was the deportation of 360
thousand Armenians from the territory of Azerbaijan, part of them
left for different post-soviet countries.

Ecological emigrants – who left Armenia after the disastrous earthquake
of 1988. And the third flow – the internal emigrants, deported from
the frontier zones, because of bombings. Those were 72 thousand people.

1992-1995 was the second stage of the massive emigration from Armenia,
which, according to G. Yeganyan, was conditioned by economic, social,
political, and moral-psychological factors, due to the economic
crises in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Around
800 thousand people left Armenia at the third stage of the massive
emigration, from which 400 thousand people returned. In general,
from 1988 to 1995 1,2 million people left Armenia, that is to say
the 1/3 of the population.

The third stage of massive emigration was from 1995 to
2001, which stands out by the reduction of the volumes of
passenger-circulation. Though certain volumes of emigration were
maintained, linked with the fact that routine-social problems were
replaced by social-psychological, the process of the reunion of the
families took place.

The period of 2001 to 2008 is peculiar with the continual growth of
the passenger-circulation. According to Gagik Yeganyan every year
those volumes used to grow by two-digit number, both the entry and
the departure.

Assessing the situation Gagik Yeganyan underscored that from 1988 to
2003, from 800 thousand to 1 million people, that is to say 28-31
% of the population left Armenia. The key vector of the migration
flow has been directed to the post-soviet countries, mainly Russian
Federation – 75%, European countries – 15%, and the USA – 10%.

Most of the emigrants were aged 20-44, 60% of them were males: "They
were mostly employment emigrants and they didn’t keep entry rules, that
is why their stay in those countries was illegal." Gagik Yeganyan said.

Speaking about the emigration policy in Armenia G. Yeganyan
noticed that the first comprehensive document in this regard was
"The Conception on the State Regulation of the Emigration of the
Population" adopted in 2000.

"For the first time on the state level a policy on emigration was
elaborated, the helpful and the harmful aspects of the emigration were
separated. The document underscored certain versions of promoting
emigration flows deriving from the interests of the state, as well
as the reduction of the negative influence of separate types of
emigration." Head of the Migration Agency underscored.

The conception was reviewed in 2004, when new problems linked with
emigration flow emerged. A new state emigration policy was elaborated,
where 10 priority issues were underscored. The document envisaged
certain goals and means to solve them. But at present, connected
with the adoption of the European Neighborhood Action Plan, there
is a necessity to review this conception, because an imperative of
elaborating a comprehensive national migration program has appeared:
"The new policy must contain the standards accepted in the EU
countries, which implies assisting issues linked with employment
migration. 14 new supremacies are proposed and in June we will
get the assistance of the EU experts for the new national program,
with whom we will elaborate the structure and the contents of the
program. After which working groups will be established, to create
the program, within 1,5-2 years." Gagik Yeganyan underscored.

Speaking about the present state of emigration in Armenia and the
emigration policy G. Yeganyan underscored that the main problem is
linked with the former emigrants who are returning at present. "They
are in an illegal state in different countries, and one day they will
face the problem of deportation. Some people return of their own will
and the state must assist this process. Many Armenians are willing to
return but very small part of these people realize this intention. We
must take measures to assist those who have intentions to return to
their motherland." Gagik Yeganyan said.