THE STAGES OF EMIGRATION FROM ARMENIA

International conference under the title “Emigration Tendencies from Armenia to the Russian Federation: the role of the civil society, network cooperation and a dialogue between the state and the society” launched in Yerevan yesterday.

Massive emigration from Armenia started from 1988 and the first huge flow has been recorded in 1988-1992: this was the first stage of the massive resettlement. According to the Head of Migration Agency under the Ministry of the Territorial Governance Gagik Yeganyan the first stage of the massive emigration was conditioned by certain extraordinary factors. The first factor was the deportation of 360 thousand Armenians from the territory of Azerbaijan, part of them left for different post-soviet countries.
Ecological emigrants – who left Armenia after the disastrous earthquake of 1988. And the third flow - the internal emigrants, deported from the frontier zones, because of bombings. Those were 72 thousand people.
1992-1995 was the second stage of the massive emigration from Armenia, which, according to G. Yeganyan, was conditioned by economic, social, political, and moral-psychological factors, due to the economic crises in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Around 800 thousand people left Armenia at the third stage of the massive emigration, from which 400 thousand people returned. In general, from 1988 to 1995 1,2 million people left Armenia, that is to say the 1/3 of the population.
The third stage of massive emigration was from 1995 to 2001, which stands out by the reduction of the volumes of passenger-circulation. Though certain volumes of emigration were maintained, linked with the fact that routine-social problems were replaced by social-psychological, the process of the reunion of the families took place.
The period of 2001 to 2008 is peculiar with the continual growth of the passenger-circulation. According to Gagik Yeganyan every year those volumes used to grow by two-digit number, both the entry and the departure.
Assessing the situation Gagik Yeganyan underscored that from 1988 to 2003, from 800 thousand to 1 million people, that is to say 28-31 % of the population left Armenia. The key vector of the migration flow has been directed to the post-soviet countries, mainly Russian Federation – 75%, European countries – 15%, and the USA - 10%.
Most of the emigrants were aged 20-44, 60% of them were males: “They were mostly employment emigrants and they didn’t keep entry rules, that is why their stay in those countries was illegal.” Gagik Yeganyan said.
Speaking about the emigration policy in Armenia G. Yeganyan noticed that the first comprehensive document in this regard was “The Conception on the State Regulation of the Emigration of the Population” adopted in 2000. “For the first time on the state level a policy on emigration was elaborated, the helpful and the harmful aspects of the emigration were separated. The document underscored certain versions of promoting emigration flows deriving from the interests of the state, as well as the reduction of the negative influence of separate types of emigration.” Head of the Migration Agency underscored.
The conception was reviewed in 2004, when new problems linked with emigration flow emerged. A new state emigration policy was elaborated, where 10 priority issues were underscored. The document envisaged certain goals and means to solve them. But at present, connected with the adoption of the European Neighborhood Action Plan, there is a necessity to review this conception, because an imperative of elaborating a comprehensive national migration program has appeared: “The new policy must contain the standards accepted in the EU countries, which implies assisting issues linked with employment migration. 14 new supremacies are proposed and in June we will get the assistance of the EU experts for the new national program, with whom we will elaborate the structure and the contents of the program. After which working groups will be established, to create the program, within 1,5-2 years.” Gagik Yeganyan underscored.
Speaking about the present state of emigration in Armenia and the emigration policy G. Yeganyan underscored that the main problem is linked with the former emigrants who are returning at present. “They are in an illegal state in different countries, and one day they will face the problem of deportation. Some people return of their own will and the state must assist this process. Many Armenians are willing to return but very small part of these people realize this intention. We must take measures to assist those who have intentions to return to their motherland.” Gagik Yeganyan said.

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