Justice Minister of Armenia David Harutyunyan also made a speech during the third “Armenia-Diaspora” congress. During his speech, he touched upon the dual citizenship law and said that it is necessary to take into consideration the fact that the population of the Diaspora exceeds that of Armenia by two times. According to D. Harutyunyan, Armenians are forced to think about the current cosmopolitan situation. D. Harutyunyan listed the arguments brought up against the people against dual citizenship, as well as the arguments in favor of dual citizenship. According to the minister, the government has the following approach for dual citizens who are of age to go to the army. Armenian citizens with Armenian citizenship who apply for dual citizenship will still be considered citizens of Armenia and they are forced to serve in the Armenian army. Citizens of other countries who receive Armenian citizenship will be released from army service if they have already served in the other country. As for voting rights, the minister said that according to the Constitution, even if the foreigner is a citizen of Armenia, he doesn’t have the right to vote in elections in Armenia. “The government believes that the right to vote should be granted to dual citizens living in Armenia at the given time. The only exception is for diplomats abroad,” said D. Harutyunyan. Harutyunyan also said that dual citizens should have the right to vote during local government elections if they are on the list of the given residential area. There are many rumors that the Armenian dual citizen with Armenian citizenship must be Armenian by nationality, but question: how are they going to differ an Uzbek from a Portuguese? D. Harutyunyan also touched upon this issue. According to him, the constitutional clause stating that Armenians by nationality get Armenian citizenship easily demands an explanation. “However, the Armenian government says that if the person has Armenian ancestors and can prove that, that’s enough for us to consider him Armenian by nationality,” says D. Harutyunyan.
