82 foreign citizens have addressed the Department of Refugees and Migration under the government of Armenia to get refugee status. As Chief of the Juridical Section of the Department Petros Aghababian has told Regnum information agency, 63 out of them come from Iraq. 29 Iraqi citizens are provided with temporary asylum, the candidacies of others are being considered. Two Turkish citizens have addressed a similar request to Armenia: one is provided with temporary asylum, the other's case is being considered. Addresses were also made by Iranian citizens - two out of the six were declined, three are at the stage of consideration, one was turned down by request of the presenter. Four Syrian citizens have also sought refuge in Armenia - one request is declined, three are being considered. Addresses were also received from citizens of Ukraine, Poland, Kazakhstan, Abkhazia and the Czech Republic. As of December 2003, 37 are expecting decisions on the requests of asylum in Armenia.