Armenians from Artsakh Can Avoid 'Azerbaijan' Mark in Passports, Ministry of Internal Affairs

Armenians from Artsakh can apply to avoid the 'Azerbaijan' mark in their passports by specifying other data available in their birth certificate in the place of birth field, such as province, region, city, town, or village. This was reported to CivilNet by the Migration and Citizenship Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which also warned that this could create problems at border checkpoints.

“The current legislation of the Republic of Armenia defines an alternative regarding the place of birth by government decision, according to which the passport of a citizen of the Republic of Armenia shall indicate the place of birth (the state or, at the request of the citizen, the province, region, city, town, or village if there are corresponding notations in the birth certificate). Therefore, based on the citizen's application, other data available in the birth certificate may also be indicated; however, it may be problematic at border checkpoints,” the service stated.

As of April 16, 2023, following the forced displacement from Artsakh, 8,568 individuals from Nagorno-Karabakh have applied for Armenian citizenship. In response to concerns from residents of Artsakh about why their place of birth is marked as Azerbaijan in their passports, the Migration and Citizenship Service said that the indication of the place of birth in passports is regulated by international ICAO and ISO 3166 standards, and any indication outside of those is considered problematic by the Ministry of Internal Affairs at border checkpoints.

“The issuance of machine-readable travel documents is regulated by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) 9303 standard, which states that the field for place of birth is regulated by the ISO 3166 standard. The latter, according to states, records the geographical units for which the indication is acceptable in the passport. Accordingly, any indication made by the authorized body of the sector— the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Migration and Citizenship Service— that is not validated within the framework of international regulation is problematic at border checkpoints. Such alerts have been received at the Migration and Citizenship Service from border control bodies of various countries. These issues are addressed as much as possible through partnership during the daily activities of the service. In order to legally resolve the issue, the service is guided exclusively by international standards when re-documenting individuals,” the clarification stated.