GAGIK YEGANYAN SAYS PRESENTED NUMBER ON ARMENIAN CITIZENS WORKING IN TURKEY DOES NOT CORRESPOND TO REALITY

ARMENPRESS
Dec 18, 2009

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS: On different occasions it is spoken
that the Armenian citizens leaving for Turkey to work comprise a
great number. Turkish political leaders even note concrete numbers
– 50,000-70,000, but recently the Armenian office of the "Eurasian"
Foundation issued a research devoted to the issue, according to which,
the numbers about the Armenian citizens working in Turkey do not
correspond to reality, head of the Armenian Territorial Administration
Ministry’s Migration Agency Gagik Yeganyan said today at a press
conference called on the International Day of Migrants.

He said according to the information, taken from the official web
page of the Turkey’s Statistical Institute it is seen that since
2000 about 294,000 Armenian citizens entered Turkey and 288,000
returned back. He noted that the eight years’ dynamics shows that a
sharp increase of Armenia-Turkey passenger transportation has been
registered. The stable growth, according to him, is in the limits of
15-20% and if in 2008 for Armenia the total number of passenger-flows
in all the directions decreased in case of Turkey it remained the same.

G. Yeganyan, referring to the December 9-10 Geneva gathering dedicated
to the issues of refugees, noted that Armenian Vice Prime Minister,
Territorial Administration Minister Armen Gevorgyan reached agreement
with the UNHCR High Commissioner on finding necessary financial
means for the implementation of program on ensuring apartments to the
1988-1992 resettled people from Azerbaijan and program on organization
of return of inner displaced people from Armenia’s remote areas to
their settlements.

The first program is currently being implemented in Yerevan where
the number of stakeholders reaches 1000 refugee families and for the
solution of the issue around 40 million USD is needed. The total cost
of the second program is 38.5 million USD.

In 2000 the UN General Assembly declared December 18 International
Day of Migrants.