ARMENIA STICKS TO POLICY OF REFUGEES FULL INTEGRATION

PanARMENIAN.Net
16.03.2010 14:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Amendments to RA Law "On Citizenship", initiated
by the RA government, will extend the term of obtaining the Armenian
citizenship by refugees and persons without citizenship till December
31, 2012, deputy minister of territorial administration of Armenia
Vache Terteryan said.

According to him, more refugees will be able to receive citizenship
during two years. The bill will be debated through special regulations,
the second reading will be held immediately after the first one,
within 24 hours.

Responding to MPs’ questions about why out of 312 thousand refugees,
only 80 thousand have acquired the Armenian citizenship so far, he
said that refugees integrate into the society with difficulty but the
process, however, is moving forward. "In contrast to Azerbaijan and
Georgia, deliberately not facilitating their refugees’ integration,
Armenia conducts a policy of full integration of its refugees into
society," Terteryan said.

According to chairman of the ARFD parliamentary group Vahan
Hovhannisyan, the Armenian leadership initially made a political
mistake. "Since Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan originally lived in
Artsakh, they should have been settled in the liberated territories of
NKR. Extension of the terms of obtaining citizenship is not a way out,
for the true solution to the problem is not here, but in Artsakh,"
he said.