45 THOUSAND REFUGEES FROM AZERBAIJAN BECAME ARMENIAN CITIZENS FOR LAST THREE YEARS

PanARMENIAN.Net - 2002, first fife months, over 4 thousand refugees from Azerbaijan have become the citizens of Armenia. The head of department for migration and refugees Vardan Gevorkian has stated that in his interview with «De-Facto» agency. According to him, after the establishment of department for migration and refugees at the RA government in 1999 declaring naturalization is its priority-driven goal, the number of the refugees becoming the Armenian citizens increased 7-8 thousand in 1999 August-September. In 2000 about 15 thousand people became Armenian citizens, in 2001, over 16 thousand refugees became Armenian citizens. In total, about 45 thousand refugees from Azerbaijan have become Armenian citizens for the last three years. As Gevorkian noted, that process has become more active for the recent years as the parliament of the state passed the law providing refugees social and economic guarantees. The majority of people wishing to become local citizens is capable, economically active population aiming at having Armenian passport for employment, conclusion of agreements and etc.