The Armenian government will soon send the dual citizenship bill to the National Assembly of Armenia. The most talked-about issue during the third “Armenia-Diaspora” congress was the dual citizenship law. During the congress, Justice Minister of Armenia David Harutyunyan gave an explanation about the law. He presented the advantages and disadvantages to the Armenian Diasporans. Rumor has it that Armenians from the Diaspora are starting to think twice about the dual citizenship law after hearing what the Justice Minister had to say.
First of all, foreign countries where there are Armenian citizens will try to interfere in Armenia’s internal affairs with the excuse of protecting their citizens. Almost the same thing that’s going on between Russia and Abkhazia. Besides that, other countries will be able to interfere Armenia’s internal politics through the means of their citizens if the dual citizens get the right to vote and get elected.
The next thing that D. Harutyunyan brought up was that the number of soldiers would decrease because more Armenians would prefer becoming dual citizens and serve in foreign armies where there is less danger of war.
According to D. Harutyunyan, dual citizenship will lead to the increase in emigration due to economy. “Dual citizenship will lead to the formation of two types of Armenians-people who are only citizens of Armenia and people who are dual citizens,” says the minister.
According to yet another argument, the Diaspora will also be split into two because there are some countries that prohibit dual citizenship.
Dual citizenship will give Armenians and foreigners the opportunity to get dual citizenship, purchase land in Armenia, which may become dangerous due to the low prices for land. This is really dangerous in that there will be a high demand for land and prices will increase. The people working abroad will be able to purchase more land than the Armenians living in Armenia.
“Since dual citizenship isn’t limited to Armenians, people from less-developed countries will start flowing to Armenia and that may change the demography of Armenia,” says Harutyunyan. According to him, dual citizenship also brings up many legal issues and they are inevitable.
But what does the foreigner lose by becoming a citizen of Armenia? “By being a dual citizen in Armenia, the individual doesn’t have the right to file a complaint as defense to the given country of which he is a citizen. Secondly, in case of a sentencing, the individual isn’t allowed to be extradited to the other country of which he is a citizen; he will only be considered a citizen of Armenia. The most important issue concerns making investments because the foreigner will be considered a citizen of Armenia; This is probably one of the most talked-about issues due to the fact that by making investments, foreigners are protected by the international contracts, but after becoming dual citizens, they lose the right to be protected,” said the minister. He also said that the government isn’t rushing to “approve everyone as dual citizens”.