YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4, ARMENPRESS: Under the current constitution Armenian citizens cannot be simultaneously citizens of other countries, but several Armenian-parliament represented and outside it parties have joined efforts to produce a bill which says that any Armenian national should be granted Armenian citizenship from the moment he establishes permanent residence here.
The bill drafted by National Democratic Union, National Democratic Party, Constitutional Right Union, Hanrapetutyun, as well as the Democratic Party and the Communists, was presented today by Shavarsh Kocharian, chairman of a parliament committee on education, science and culture issues, to round table discussions at the Union of Armenian Journalists. The bill has been already submitted to parliament’s consideration.
The bill however, sets several restrictions for Armenians with dual citizenship but with permanent residential status in Armenia. They, particularly, cannot elect and be elected to state and government management bodies, hold government positions and join local political parties.
Arshak Sadoyan, an outspoken member of the parliament, argued that Armenia should become the homeland of around 9 million Armenians, scattered across the globe, of which only 3 million live in Armenia proper. “Dual citizenship is a special status and rights and obligations stemming from it should be fixed by a special legislation,” he added.
Paruyr Hayrikian, leader of a small Self-Determination Union, argued that the proposed bill, though was a step forward towards getting closer to dual citizenship, “but its clauses should not set discriminating restrictions for a certain category of Armenians.”
David Shahnazarian, former head of national security department in the administration of ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosian said building a legal base for dual citizenship institution would be impossible. He argued that the international laws on dual citizenship do not imply citizenship based on ethnic belonging.
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