1,100 FOREIGNERS APPLY FOR ASYLUM IN ARMENIA OVER PAST SIX YEARS
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, NOYAN TAPAN. 1,100 foreigners, including from Turkey,
Iraq, Lebanon, and Cuba, have applied for asylum in Armenia since 2002.
The head of the Migration Agency of the RA Ministry of Territorial
Administration Gagik Yeganian said at the June 20 press conference that
160 of them applied for refugee status, the rest – for temporary
asylum. In 2007, the agency received 289 applications, including 271
for temporary asylum and 18 for refugee status.
According to G. Yeganian, almost all temporary asylum seekers, most of
them Iraqi citizens, were given the right of one-year asylum. Only 13%
of those who applied for refugee status have been granted such status.
The examination of their cases shows that these persons leave their
places of residence due to hard socioeconomic conditions, civil war,
armed conflicts and mainly choose Armenia as a transit country for
moving to the West.
The agency head said that asylum seekers are placed in special lodgings
created in 2000 – in order to undergo medical examination and document
checks within a month. Then they are placed in temporary lodgings until
the issue of applications for refugee status is discussed. Asylum
seekers receive a certificate of a refugee status seeker, a one-off
pecuniary aid of 10 thousand drams (about ) and free translation and
legal services.