A MP Claims: 'Armenians Who Contributed to the Accumulation System Were Not Told They Aren't Citizens Without an Armenian Passport'

During the opening of the four-day parliamentary session, Gegham Manukyan, a member of the 'Armenia' faction, addressed the issue of Armenian citizenship and the responses from the relevant authorities.

“I asked a clear question to the Director of the Migration Service, Armen Ghazaryan, in the Defense Committee: can he clarify when everyone can receive ID cards and biometric passports? The answer is unclear. Instead, he has been trying to convince the public through television from morning to night that the blue passport given to the citizens of Artsakh is solely intended for travel and they cannot be appointed to various positions. The Secretary of the Security Council, who is originally from Martuni, surely had such a passport, and the Chief of General Staff, Edward Asryan, who is from Hadrut, must have had such a passport too. For 30 years, the people of Artsakh on the frontlines have defended our country's security, as well as the safety of Jermuk and Vardenis, without saying that they held a travel passport. The citizens of Artsakh who made mandatory contributions to the accumulation system were not told, 'You did not have an Armenian passport, you are not a citizen, and tomorrow you won't be receiving your pension,'” stated the MP.

During the session, Manukyan also mentioned that for the first time, funds should be allocated to the external intelligence service in the budget proposal, yet the MPs had no way to receive insights into this budget proposal as the representative of the external intelligence service did not attend the National Assembly, at least not represented in the Defense Committee.

National Assembly President Alen Simonyan suggested discussing during the break how they could solve and find a golden mean.