VIDEO: Why Are We 'Forcibly' Returning People Who Do Not Want to Live in Armenia? - Arsenyan

In 2023, Armenia received 411 requests for the return of illegally residing citizens from EU countries, with a positive response rate of 92.99% from Armenia. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan during a meeting of the National Assembly's Foreign Relations Committee today.

According to her, the 92.99% does not mean that Armenia refuses to readmit its citizens who are residing irregularly in various EU countries. “In many cases, there may be individuals living under unspecified circumstances who are not subject to readmission and therefore do not receive a positive response within the framework of the requests,” Sargsyan elaborated.

She mentioned that statistically, Armenia is in a relatively good position. This also gives confidence to our EU partners to continue cooperation with Armenia in the context of the readmission process.

The Deputy Minister added that most readmission requests come from Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Poland, Sweden, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Denmark, and Switzerland. Among these countries, there are those from which Armenia has responded positively to 100% of the requests received.

During the meeting, MP Gurgen Arsenyan from the ruling party noted, “We are talking about our citizens who have found that they do not want to live in Armenia and have left. This agreement is about returning our citizens who have found both legal and illegal ways to leave Armenia and do not wish to live here. In my opinion, by meeting the desires of European governments, we are somewhat forcing people to do something they do not want to do.”

For more details, see the video.