“A state is defined as a territory where the people have the right to form their own government. To pass dual citizenship is the same as changing that definition around. It is similar to handing over the territory,” said David Shahnazaryan yesterday during a dual citizenship seminar at the “Congress” hotel. Chief editor of “Aravot” newspaper Aram Abrahamyan and defender of rights Vartan Harutyunyan made speeches and went against omitting the constitutional clause which puts a ban on dual citizenship. The host of the seminar, David Shahnazaryan, informed the people present that they had sent invitations to those in favor of dual citizenship (he did not mention any names), but apparently none of them had accepted the invitation. In any case, V. Harutyunyan believes that the proposed constitutional amendments can not play a major role for Armenia and won’t change anything. According to him, a “big revolution can do more for eliminating the dual citizenship clause.” Dual citizenship can really change the future of Armenia by giving, for example, Armenian citizens living in Russia the right to form their own authorities. If what we foresee becomes a reality, we will be forced to start a new struggle for independence,” says V. Harutyunyan. According to Harutyunyan, if dual citizenship gets accepted, the citizens of Armenia living in Armenia will be deprived of their right to form authorities because as the proposed constitution put up for referendum states, the authorities are formed through elections organized by Armenian citizens. “Nobody can forbid the dual citizen to take part in the elections, not even by law.” The Constitution provides Armenian citizens with the right to vote no matter how many years the person has been living in Armenia,” states the defender of rights. He also reflected upon the statement made by an ARF representative when he said that Armenia is not only the homeland for the Armenians living in Armenia and that we will have solved the issue concerning reestablishment of relations with Diasporan Armenians by accepting dual citizenship. V. Harutyunyan classified this as a pure, nationalistic view. According to him, the Republic of Armenia first and foremost belongs to its citizens despite nationality. “Nationality should not be a key factor here. If we take that into account, then we will have a destructive nationalism and by that we offend our citizen living abroad. There should not be the Armenian/non-Armenian difference,” says Vahan Harutyunyan. The latter is of the opinion that people who have this mentality can not differentiate between the state and the Homeland. That is probably why Vahan Harutyunyan gave definitions of the words “Homeland” and “state”. Accordingly, the homeland is a region which is historically known as the place where our ancestors once lived but where we currently don’t live, whereas the state is a piece of land which is internationally recognized and has its boundaries set, a place where we live and try to get along with many foreigners, despite the many obstacles that we face. However, it turns out that dual citizenship is beneficial in helping overcome some of those obstacles. Aram Abrahamyan mentioned the “auxiliary role” that dual citizenship plays in his speech. In Abrahamyan’s words, dual citizenship helps, for example, Russians with a Bolivian passport in tourism and business because if you have a Bolivian passport, you can travel all around Europe, besides Sweden and Switzerland. A. Abrahamyan also stated that last year, the Russian Federation passed the “law about citizenship”, according to which it had apparently put a ban on dual citizenship. “Koler, who is the head of interregional and cultural relations with foreign countries and who is the curator of national revolutionary Aram Karapetyan, said that Russian legislation puts a ban on dual citizenship, but Russia has agreed to make things easier for Armenians, if of course there are any political movements. For example, if we have the Russia-Belarus-Armenia connection,” said chief editor of “Aravot”. Aram Abrahamyan believes that that is just a hint showing how closely connected Armenia’s constitutional amendments and Russia’s cosmopolitan views are. In his opinion, passing dual citizenship in Armenia is a nice gesture for Diasporan Armenians, however, A. Abrahamyan does not consider helping Diasporan Armenians as a good thing. “If the Diasporan Armenian loves Armenia so much, then why doesn’t he leave his country’s citizenship and accept Armenian citizenship?” This was the suggestion given by Abrahamyan and he added: “If we are talking about morality, then I can bring a few pointers. The people who were living in the Western countries in the beginning of the 1990s don’t have the moral right to have the same rights as Armenians living in Armenia. The Armenians who have lived in Armenia are the ones that have put the burden on their shoulders and suffered a lot while forming the government, going through war and blockade.” A. Abrahamyan is against providing Armenians living outside of Armenia or people with foreign citizenship the same rights pertaining to citizens of the Republic of Armenia. He also stated that it was impossible to pass a law where dual citizenship is granted to all. “Even if a racist law like this gets accepted, it doesn’t matter; nobody can give a definition of an Armenian based on ethnicity,” said chief editor of “Aravot” newspaper who believes that Armenia’s richest assets are the Armenian people living in Armenia and we can not dissolve that asset with others. As for the proposed constitutional amendments, A. Abrahamyan was actually in favor if them and was going to vote “yes” if the dual citizenship issue had not been brought up. Defender of rights Avetik Ishkhanyan also went against omitting the constitutional clause banning dual citizenship and stated that he would be in favor of it if he only trusted the legal system in Armenia. “Each law is subjected to manipulations. The dual citizenship law gives the opportunity to manipulate even more,” said Ishkhanyan. Former mayor of Yerevan Vahagn Khachatryan believes that omitting the constitutional clause banning dual citizenship has nothing to do with the future development and prosperity of the Republic of Armenia. “Their goal (referring to the authorities-R.T) is reproduction,” says Khachatryan. During the seminar, the participants were informed that some ARF representatives who are non-Armenian citizens are propagandizing the dual citizenship clause and a large number of political forces, who were against the clause back in 1995, are now for it. “That can be understood, since they were all traitors then and now,” said David Shahnazaryan.
