ARMENIAN-TURKISH BORDER OPENING NOT TO ENTAIL FLOW OF MIGRANTS
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.12.2009 13:45 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The opening of Armenian-Turkish border will not
necessarily entail flow of migrants, according to Gagik Yeganyan,
Head of Migration Service at Armenia’s Ministry of Territorial
Administration.
"Migration flows tend to intensify in view of lessening obstacles to
crossing the border," he told a news conference in Yerevan on Friday.
At that, he noted that an open border does not mean that anyone
wishing to cross the it will be free to so without a visa permit (as
is the case with Iran) or relevant legal bases (in case of leaving
for Georgia). Yeganyan accounted for the "flow" of Turkish migrants
by the absence of bans on Turkish citizens’ entry to Armenia. "They
might have as well come before the opening of border, why didn’t they
to that?" he asked.
Yeganyan said the number of migrants has grown 4 times over the recent
8 years (2000-2008), with 288 thousand people leaving Armenia for
Turkey and 294 thousand migrating in the opposite direction.
As to the data published by Turkey, he said it provides wrong
information by saying that there are around 50-70 thousand illegal
Armenian migrants working in the country. As shown by the official
data of Turkish statistical service, the negative balance of migration
flows made 5 238 people.