More Than 45,000 Displaced Artsakh Armenians Have Received Armenian Citizenship, Deputy Minister Says

YEREVAN — More than 45,000 Armenians displaced from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) have been granted citizenship of the Republic of Armenia, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Armen Ghazaryan announced during a briefing at the National Assembly.

According to Ghazaryan, displaced Artsakh Armenians have submitted more than 53,000 citizenship applications, of which over 45,000 have already been approved.

Addressing documentation challenges, particularly the absence of birth certificates, the deputy minister explained that such documents are legally required for citizenship applications. To avoid lengthy court proceedings, authorities have introduced a simplified notarial procedure for establishing the necessary facts.

“A citizenship application cannot be processed without a birth certificate. This is a legal requirement established under citizenship legislation,” Ghazaryan said.

He explained that the Ministry of Justice has proposed a notarial mechanism that is already being implemented. Authorities are also considering exemptions from certain fees to ease the financial burden on applicants.

Regarding possible delays in processing citizenship applications, Ghazaryan clarified that the maximum period established by law is 90 working days from the official start of administrative proceedings. He emphasized that violations of this deadline are rare.

According to the deputy minister, some misunderstandings arise because applicants consider the document collection stage to be the beginning of the process. However, official proceedings commence only after the required documents have been submitted to the relevant administrative authority and their authenticity has been verified.

Ghazaryan added that the necessary administrative and digital systems are already in place. The current priority is to raise public awareness of the simplified notarial procedures so that more displaced Armenians can take advantage of them.