Has Armenia abandoned Karabakh Armenians by issuing false passports?
Sadixov and Verdyan on Caliber.Az

INTERVIEWS  07 November 2023 - 15:51

The confrontation between the Armenians, who moved to Armenia from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan and the Pashinyan government, is gaining momentum. The next trigger for the deepening of the gap between Yerevanites and Karabakhites was the statement of the Armenian officials that in order to become a full-fledged citizen of the “country of stones”, Karabakh Armenians now need to obtain this citizenship. This caused the latter to be taken aback, since they thought that they had long been considered citizens of Armenia - after all, many of those who relocated to Armenia, are Armenian passport holders. Moreover, Armenians from Karabakh claim that they received a blue Armenian passport in Armenia.

However, the Armenian government is adamant. Thus, in particular, the head of the Migration and Citizenship Service under the Armenian Interior Ministry, Armen Kazaryan, told reporters that, over the past decades, blue passports have been issued to the Armenians of Karabakh as a travel document with the help of which they could and still can cross the Armenian borders and not to face problems outside of it.

So, what is the essence of Pashinyan’s actions? How will the Karabakh Armenians, deceived by Armenia, behave? Caliber.Az asked Azerbaijani diplomat, political expert Fikrat Sadixov and Armenian activist and blogger Ishkhan Verdyan to answer these questions.

As Fikrat Sadixov notes, Karabakh Armenians, who are in Armenia, cannot really understand why they should apply for Armenian citizenship if they already have Armenian passports, issued to them at one time.

“However, the Armenian government now claims that the former residents of the liquidated puppet entity are not citizens of the country and the passports issued to them are just travel documents for traveling abroad.

“Naturally, this caused a heated discussion, and a lot of dissatisfied people appeared among the Karabakh Armenians. Because they do not understand the ultimate goal of these manipulations. Today the Karabakh Armenians are faced with the question of whether to retain “refugee” status or obtain citizenship of the Republic of Armenia. The fact is that in Armenia, they are already considered persons with a “refugee” status, since they are registered in this capacity. But if they do not receive new passports and citizenship, to which Pashinyan calls them, they will lose a number of rights: they will not be able to vote, be elected, or enter government service.

“I think that the goal of the Armenian government is precisely this. Carry out a clear selection among them, clarify who wants to receive a ‘refugee’ status, stay or go abroad. Or maybe there will be those who will return to Azerbaijan’s Karabakh? I do not rule out such a development. Thus, the Armenians from Karabakh found themselves in this dilemma. What choice they will make is still unclear. Opinions on this matter vary widely. I think that this issue will be discussed for some time,” concluded F. Sadiqov.

In turn, Ishkhan Verdyan recalled that Prime Minister Pashinyan announced his intention to grant “refugee status” to the Karabakh Armenians. A couple of days after that he added that the passports of Armenian citizens, which are now in the hands of the Karabakh Armenians, are just a travel document, and not at all a certificate of citizenship of the Republic of Armenia.

“At first glance, these statements may seem strange and may give rise to various conspiracy theories. But in fact, everything is quite simple and obvious - Karabakh Armenians are not citizens of Armenia. These people are not listed in the state registers of Armenia, they simply are not there. The state cannot communicate with them on a legal basis, because there is no legal basis - these people are simply hanging in the air.

“Taking into account the above, Pashinyan’s tactics are the only correct one. Armenia cannot just take and register 100,000 people as its citizens, based on a passport that ended up in the hands of the Karabakh Armenians as a result of fraudulent machinations on a state scale. This will cause huge problems in the system, so the most painless and legal tactic has been chosen - to provide refugee status with the prospect of citizenship,” believes I. Verdyan.

According to him, the most interesting detail in this story is the passports issued to the Karabakh Armenians.

“In essence, we are dealing with an absolutely legal, internationally accepted identity document for an Armenian citizen who is not actually an Armenian citizen. That is, everything that is written in this document is false. All seals, all codes, all designations and all statements appearing on these passports are fake. This fake document, which completely discredits the Republic of Armenia, was printed and issued to the Karabakh Armenians by the Republic of Armenia.

“It turns out that every visit to a foreign country by a Karabakh Armenian is an act of fraud on the part of the Republic of Armenia in relation to this country, because in the passport in which the visa is affixed, Armenia officially certifies its citizenship for a person who is not actually a citizen of Armenia. If we dig even deeper, we can cancel all transactions made by Karabakh Armenians in third countries, since these transactions are based on fraud, of which the Republic of Armenia is a direct participant.

“Last on the list, but not the least important one, is the question: who exactly did Armenia issue its fake passports to? If these people are not citizens of Armenia, then what country are they citizens of? ‘Artsakh’ did not exist and does not exist in order to present Karabakh Armenians as citizens of ‘Artsakh’. There is only one option left - the Karabakh Armenians are citizens of Azerbaijan, and this is confirmed by the leadership of Azerbaijan. And the fact that these people were unable to realize their legal right to citizenship and ended up in Armenia with an unclear status is a consequence of Armenia’s policy of annexation of Azerbaijani lands, during which the Karabakh Armenians were physically deprived of the right to communicate with their legal state,” I. Verdyan said.

Caliber.Az