92 ARMENIAN CITIZENS REPATRIATED FROM TURKMENISTAN

PanARMENIAN.Net - 92 Armenian citizens were repatriated from Ashkhabad to Yerevan February 1. The measure was carried out with the assistance of the International Migration Organization and the Armenian Embassy in Turkmenistan. As it was reported to Arminfo agency in the RA Embassy in Turkmenistan, the majority of the repatriated are the citizens of Armenia, who left the fatherland in search of a job in 1992-93. When the country passed on to the one-sided visa regime for the CIS residents in 1999, they became illegal immigrants. According to the source, the present measure enabled to send back to the fatherland about 100 Armenian citizens. However only 92 of them wished to leave Turkmenistan. Having allocated a $43 000 grant the governments of the Netherlands and Great Britain sponsored the measure. To remind, 116 Armenian citizens, who illegally resided in the country, were repatriated from Turkmenistan last November.