ARA CONTINUES TO GET THE SHORT-END OF THE CITIZENSHIP STICK BY THE ARTSAKH GOVERNMENT
Well it looks like I wont become a citizen of Artsakh in the near or distant future.
I ran into a close friend who is a member of parliament and I asked him how the citizenship issue was coming along and did they decide anything yet?
He asked me if I was a citizen of the US and upon my answer, told me that under what law is now in place, I can’t obtain citizenship in Artsakh and that if I want, I can become an citizen of Armenia by giving up my American citizenship.
I told him I’m not interested in citizenship in Armenia, I want citizenship in Artsakh and I really don’t see why there are others from America and other countries that have it and I can’t.
He went on to explain the fallout they got for giving citizenship to those few people and that for this reason, they stopped giving citizenship.
He went on to say that they give special residency to people from abroad and that I could obtain that. I told I’ve already had that [since 1997] and that this status does not give me the right to hold a government post. He said there are certain government posts I could have. I told him it does not allow me to become Prime Minister or President, which is really the only government posts I would ever be interested in.
Let me as briefly as possible remind you that in 2000, the Prime Minister, Anushavan Danielyan encouraged me to apply for citizenship and said that he would do everything in his power to make sure I got it.
I applied and according to my understanding of the process at that time, the papers I submitted were to be reviewed by a government committee that is made up of representatives of various ministers and then upon a positive decision, they send their recommendation off to the President, who signs a decree accepting my application and granting me citizenship.
Well from what I learned in July of 2001, from that committee, who were hearing a non-related issue that I was coordinating, that in December of 2000, had reviewed my application, and sent to the president a positive decision and that same month the President should have executed and signed the papers that would award me my Artsakh citizenship.
This did not happen and instead, the papers somehow got lost and finally surfaced at the office of the Minister of Internal Affairs and I was told that it was lacking a letter of approval form the Minister of Foreign Affairs and then later was told was missing a report form the KGB and the KGB told me they were in need of 3 reports to give their report, one of which was to come from America.
Once I jumped through all their hoops, I ended up contacting the President’s office and in the end met with one of his advisors Garen Baburyan, who informed me that everyone has lied to me and that the law in which I applied for citizenship as of December 31, 2000 was no longer in force and that Parliament was going to pass a new law in the next month (this meeting took place in April of 2002) and that once it is passed, then I will automatically get my citizenship. If this does not happen then I should understand that he too has lied to me.
So May and June of 2002 came a went and when I tried to set up a meeting with Baburyan, he would not get back to me.
I wrote to the President and was answered by Baburyan with a letter that said really nothing. So I wrote again and stated that this letter was intended for the President and in short said that the President should answer the letter and not his advisor.
I got no answer from the President and in October, 2002 called to set up an appointment with him, to which I was told that I am on his list of people to see and they would call me.
Well October 2003 is just around the corner and there is still no word from the President’s office as to my appointment. I can’t imagine he is very busy, as I know that in few months ago they installed 3 new computer games on his computer and that if you’re a journalist from the West, he will drop everything he is doing to see you.
I’m really not going to say what I am going to do about this issue but will all the energy and time I’ve had to spend and all the hoops I had to jump through to get to this point, I’m going to get my citizenship, or else those that messed up and didn’t do their job so in December of 2000 I would have had my citizenship, I’m going to push them to jump through a few hoops and if were lucky, maybe through an open window of the top floor of the “Projects.”
Ara is pissed and getting out the camouflage grease-paints from the closet.
Well it looks like I wont become a citizen of Artsakh in the near or distant future.
I ran into a close friend who is a member of parliament and I asked him how the citizenship issue was coming along and did they decide anything yet?
He asked me if I was a citizen of the US and upon my answer, told me that under what law is now in place, I can’t obtain citizenship in Artsakh and that if I want, I can become an citizen of Armenia by giving up my American citizenship.
I told him I’m not interested in citizenship in Armenia, I want citizenship in Artsakh and I really don’t see why there are others from America and other countries that have it and I can’t.
He went on to explain the fallout they got for giving citizenship to those few people and that for this reason, they stopped giving citizenship.
He went on to say that they give special residency to people from abroad and that I could obtain that. I told I’ve already had that [since 1997] and that this status does not give me the right to hold a government post. He said there are certain government posts I could have. I told him it does not allow me to become Prime Minister or President, which is really the only government posts I would ever be interested in.
Let me as briefly as possible remind you that in 2000, the Prime Minister, Anushavan Danielyan encouraged me to apply for citizenship and said that he would do everything in his power to make sure I got it.
I applied and according to my understanding of the process at that time, the papers I submitted were to be reviewed by a government committee that is made up of representatives of various ministers and then upon a positive decision, they send their recommendation off to the President, who signs a decree accepting my application and granting me citizenship.
Well from what I learned in July of 2001, from that committee, who were hearing a non-related issue that I was coordinating, that in December of 2000, had reviewed my application, and sent to the president a positive decision and that same month the President should have executed and signed the papers that would award me my Artsakh citizenship.
This did not happen and instead, the papers somehow got lost and finally surfaced at the office of the Minister of Internal Affairs and I was told that it was lacking a letter of approval form the Minister of Foreign Affairs and then later was told was missing a report form the KGB and the KGB told me they were in need of 3 reports to give their report, one of which was to come from America.
Once I jumped through all their hoops, I ended up contacting the President’s office and in the end met with one of his advisors Garen Baburyan, who informed me that everyone has lied to me and that the law in which I applied for citizenship as of December 31, 2000 was no longer in force and that Parliament was going to pass a new law in the next month (this meeting took place in April of 2002) and that once it is passed, then I will automatically get my citizenship. If this does not happen then I should understand that he too has lied to me.
So May and June of 2002 came a went and when I tried to set up a meeting with Baburyan, he would not get back to me.
I wrote to the President and was answered by Baburyan with a letter that said really nothing. So I wrote again and stated that this letter was intended for the President and in short said that the President should answer the letter and not his advisor.
I got no answer from the President and in October, 2002 called to set up an appointment with him, to which I was told that I am on his list of people to see and they would call me.
Well October 2003 is just around the corner and there is still no word from the President’s office as to my appointment. I can’t imagine he is very busy, as I know that in few months ago they installed 3 new computer games on his computer and that if you’re a journalist from the West, he will drop everything he is doing to see you.
I’m really not going to say what I am going to do about this issue but will all the energy and time I’ve had to spend and all the hoops I had to jump through to get to this point, I’m going to get my citizenship, or else those that messed up and didn’t do their job so in December of 2000 I would have had my citizenship, I’m going to push them to jump through a few hoops and if were lucky, maybe through an open window of the top floor of the “Projects.”
Ara is pissed and getting out the camouflage grease-paints from the closet.
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