Karabakh forced migrants demand to be recognized as refugees in Armenia

In Yerevan, participants of a protest action have claimed that the Armenian authorities do not react to the demands of forced migrants to recognize them as refugees and do not try to organize their return to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that migrants from the regions of Nagorno-Karabakh that came under the control of Azerbaijan more than once held protest actions in front of the building of the Armenian government. In particular, on October 27, the protestors held a rally and then a march with the demand to officially recognize them as refugees.

Today, migrants from Nagorno-Karabakh have held a protest action in front of the Armenian government building with a demand to solve their social problems and grant them the refugee status, the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent reports.

Until July 2021, each forced migrant received a monthly allowance in the amount of 68,000 drams (about 142.8 US dollars) and 30,000 drams (about 63 US dollars) for each family member to pay for rent of housing. However, starting from July, the authorities stopped paying the allowances and reduced the amount of compensation for rent of housing to 25,000 drams (about 52.5 US dollars), the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent was informed by Levon Airyan, the head of the public organization “In the Name of Gadrut”.

Besides, according to him, the authorities are not trying to organize the return of migrants to Nagorno-Karabakh. “The authorities promise that the refugees will be returned and that conditions will be created for them. But they did not discuss any conditions with us,” Levon Airyan said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 9, 2021 at 02:45 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.