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Armenian citizenship "cheapening" alongside dram

20 February 2015 [10:36] - TODAY.AZ

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Migration in Armenia is gaining momentum amid the economic comedown in the country.

Hard social conditions push ordinary citizens to turn to every possible way for leaving their homeland, according to local media. Now, a former high-ranking official in Armenia is renouncing his citizenship.

Hraparak, a local newspaper, wrote that Gurgen Egiazaryan, former Deputy Head of National Security Service and former lawmaker, has applied for Russian citizenship.

"If Russia agrees to grant me citizenship, I will with great pleasure accept it to get rid of Armenia," he said.

Egiazaryan added that one of his sons is already Russia's citizen and another one is under naturalization process now.

"One of my sons was sacked during Robert Kocharyan's presidency, while another one was dismissed during incumbent Serzh Sargsyan's tenure. They were unemployed for many years," he said.

Former public official's words, in fact, hint to a serious unemployment plague challenging Armenia for many years. The National Statistic Service's latest data said the unemployment rate in Armenia is 17.1 percent, covering 238,400 people in the country.

Lame economy in Armenia has shackled many financial and industrial fields, including banking, mining, wine production etc. This turmoil, in turn, ended in closure of numerous workplaces in the country, pushing citizens to seek jobs abroad.

Egiazaryan avoided holding talk about any progress in Armenia as soon as Sargsyan enjoys the luxury of the presidential palace on Yerevan's Baghramyan 26 street.

"If the president manages to see off all troubles in the country, we can again accept Armenia's citizenship," he noted.

The life in Armenia is going through a tougher period cramped by poor domestic and foreign policy of the incumbent rulers.

The most recent data by the National Statistical Service says about 22,000 people renounced their Armenia citizenship over the last year. Meanwhile more than 47,000 citizens permanently left Armenia in 2014, surpassing the same number in 2013 by 7,000.

The official data claims that 330,000 citizens have left Armenia over the 7 years of tenure of incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan. However, the real number has reaches around 380,000, according to unofficial data.

Financial trouble facing the country has frightened almost everyone alongside the monetary managers headed by the National Bank. Depreciation of the national currency the dram has led to serious problems in the country forcing the government to merge the local commercial banks.

Armenia's foreign policy focusing on deeper approximation with Russia has disillusioned the U.S. rulers, who are currently at loggerheads with the northern giant over the crisis in Ukraine. The Obama administration decided to reduce the financial allocation to Armenia. It has also annulled the monetary assistance to the so-called "regime" in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh in its draft budget for Fiscal Year 2016.

Moreover, the authorities in Armenia are still failing to find a long-lasting solution to poverty that covers over 30 percent of the overall population (NSS official data). Some families in the post-Soviet country live on a $20 monthly income,said the latest statistical data, revealing the tragic social trend uncontrolled by the government.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/138814.html

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