People of Armenian descent will be able to obtain Armenian citizenship on the basis of a baptism certificate in the Armenian Church, according to amendments to the law submitted Deputy Chief of Police Ara Fidanyan to the parliament, Sputnik Armenia reports.
Although the law stipulated that certificates of baptism could serve as a basis for granting citizenship, it wasn't clear in what cases these documents were considered and from which churches: some Armenians may follow the Armenian Catholic or Evangelical churches.
Yezidi lawmaker Rustam Bakoyan noted that under a simplified procedure, Armenian passports should be issued not only to Armenians, but also to representatives of other national communities of Armenia.
A large number of Yezidis, Assyrians, Greeks and Jews currently live in Ukraine, and many of them initially used to reside in Armenia. However, some of these people left the country during the Soviet era, which means they never had Armenian citizenship in the first place. Now if these people want to obtain Armenian citizenship, they must do so on general grounds.
"We are considering this issue and want to find a solution," Fidanyan said.
The Deputy police chief noted that since the end of February, the number of those wishing to obtain Armenian citizenship has tripled. 8,591 applications for citizenship were submitted throughout 2021 against the 3,278 applications submitted from February 24 to April 20 alone,
