Azg, Armenia (in Armenian)
Jan 31 2007
The number of Iraqi citizens who seek asylum in Armenia has not
fallen
by Karine Danielyan’s
Every day at least one Iraqi Armenian applies to the Migration Agency
for asylum in Armenia in order to legalize his stay here. They want
to have the same economic, cultural and social rights as Armenian
citizens. Since the beginning of the Iraq war, 600 people from Iraq
have been granted refugee status in Armenia. Actually, their number
could be higher as many of them simply do not apply to the agency
because they have no big expectations from our state.
On the contrary, the influx of Lebanese and Israeli Armenians has
grown. Incidentally, 30 of the 278 refugees who sought asylum here
were Arabs. Our region has become very unstable and the possibility
of a new wave of migration has become realistic. There are places in
Europe, for instance Hamburg, where refugees are given asylum even on
ships.
But at present, we do not have the opportunity to organize camps or
hostels for refugees as in Armenia there are hundreds of people who
do not have accommodation. The only problem we can solve today is
saving the life of a migrant from the war. Dozens of refugees from
Azerbaijan are still living in hostels. There is only one hostel for
those who seek asylum and it has only 20 beds, and people can stay
there only for three months until their documents are ready.
Incidentally, there is no such institution in Georgia or Azerbaijan.
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