After getting rid of the ban on dual citizenship stated in the former Armenian Constitution, the ARF members promised that they would work on passing a law on dual citizenship. However, they can’t come up with solutions to the most concrete issues. This mainly concerns the dual citizens’ rights to elect and get elected. During a press conference yesterday, the ARF National Assembly faction presented the ARF’s “law on granting dual citizenship to Armenians in the Diaspora”. The law states the cases when Diasporan Armenians can vote or get elected, and when they don’t have that right. But according to specialists, that’s just nonsense. Putting bans on the right to vote and get elected is simply unconstitutional and violates the citizens’ rights and freedoms. That’s why the opposition demanded that the constitutional amendments exclude the part which states that dual citizens have the right to vote and get elected. In other words, whereas there are some limits or prerequisites set by the Constitution for getting elected, according to the new constitution, each adult citizen of Armenia has the right to vote. The dual citizen is also considered a citizen of Armenia and if there are any limits for him or her to vote, then that is considered a human rights violation. It’s obvious that the dual citizens living abroad shouldn’t have the right to vote. This and other nuances are what the UN General Assembly had in mind when it called on Armenia many times to not pass dual citizenship because it brings forward many unsolvable issues. Before the constitutional amendments referendum, leader of the Armenian Republican Party National Assembly faction Galust Sahakyan had announced that an agreement was made between coalition members that dual citizenship would be symbolic and after getting rid of the ban, dual citizens still wouldn’t get the right to vote and get elected. But it turns out that the coalition member ARF doesn’t remember any agreement. For the time being, the ARF is presenting the “law on granting dual citizenship to Armenians in the Diaspora”. Leader of the ARF National Assembly faction Levon Mkrtchyan proposed that the government present a bill on dual citizenship after the negotiations with political parties. If not, the ARF is ready to present its own bill.
What exactly is the ARF proposing? Based on their proposals, dual citizens will get their rights based on whether or not they meet the requirements. However, dual citizens will have to pay taxes to one country and serve in one army.
“Dual citizens will have the right to vote based on their status in Armenia. Based on international practice, dual citizens as well as foreigners will have rights with limitations and this is considered as a law,” as stated in the criteria of the ARF. As to how many years dual citizens have to wait before getting the right to vote, that will be discussed later. For now, the demand is to only let citizens of Armenia vote. In fact, there is a new point stated in the ARF criteria. As stated by member of the Supreme Body of the ARF Armen Rustamyan, dual citizens can only vote in the geographical location of Armenia. In other words, there will no longer be polls stationed abroad for them to vote. In response to the question as to whether or not ARF members can provide an “airplane” to bring Armenians to Armenia for the elections and get the right to vote, Mr. Rustamyan said:
“How can the ARF bring Armenians from the Diaspora all the way to Armenia to vote? Do you know how much that costs? No political party will go that far.”
As for getting elected, the government has to set rules and regulations, according to which some positions will be based on Armenian citizenship. If the given state official retrieves information which is highly confidential and has to do with the nation’s security, then that person must be a citizen of Armenia. Nationality, according to the ARF members, can’t prevent anyone from becoming president of Armenia.
“If the person has lived in Armenia for, let’s say, 10 years and has obeyed the laws just like every other citizen, how can we not let him get elected as president?” said Armen Rustamyan.
Since the first Armenian constitution passed the ban on dual citizenship during the days of the Armenian National Movement, “168 Hours” asked for ANM administrative staff member Aram Manukyan for his opinion on the ban. According to him, this criteria and the law that will follow is only for the Armenians living in the Diaspora.
“This doesn’t benefit Armenians living in Armenia or the foreigners, with whom we can sign international contracts. This benefits the Armenians living in the Diaspora,” said A. Manukyan. According to the administrative staff member of the ANM, the title of the bill says it all: “Law on granting citizenship to Armenians living in the Diaspora”.
“In other words, the Armenian living in France can easily get dual citizenship, but it turns out that other ethnic groups living in France don’t have that right. This simply classifies those ethnic groups and violates their rights. What about the Germans living in France, the Uzbeks? What are they going to do if they want to get dual citizenship? How are Armenians living in Armenia going to get dual citizenship? After all, this is about dual citizenship for foreigners,” says Aram Manukyan and considers that law as “an ethnic law and there is nothing about dual citizenship.” Meanwhile, according to the new Armenian constitution, the law states the rights and responsibilities of dual citizens, and not the dual citizens living outside of Armenia.
Mr. Manukyan doesn’t understand one clause of the constitution, which goes as follows.
“Granting Diasporan Armenians dual citizenship will lead to the creation of a unified homeland, corresponding to the constitution.”
Mr. Manukyan doesn’t quite understand what that unified homeland is really about. So he asks:
“What kind of homeland are we creating? Are we trying to declare the whole world Armenia? This is absurd. MPs that are planning on voting for this bill should be ashamed of themselves.”