Nagorno-Karabakh’s main political factions have rejected as inadequate the Armenian government’s new plan to help Karabakh refugees obtain permanent housing in Armenia.
Many of those refugees struggling to make ends meet are also unhappy with the plan outlined by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatrian earlier this week. They say that with financial aid promised by the government they could only buy homes in remote small towns and villages that offer very few job opportunities.
Following last September’s exodus of more than 100,000 Karabakh Armenians caused by an Azerbaijani military offensive, the government decided to give every refugee, who does not own a home or live in a government shelter in Armenia, 50,000 drams ($125) per month to pay rent and utility bills. The aid program expires at the end of this month.
Khachatrian told Armenian Public Television on Tuesday that the government has tentatively drawn up a new program that will finance the purchase or construction by refugees of new homes in mostly rural areas. He said the funding will be set at 3 million drams ($7,400) per person.
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Another official said afterwards that the government will release next week a list of towns and villages where refugees will be able to acquire permanent housing with the government aid. He said they would become the owners of those properties only after living there for ten years.
A Karabakh family of four meeting the government criteria would thus be eligible for 12 million drams ($30,000). The sum is not enough to buy apartments not only in Yerevan, Gyumri or Vanadzor but also villages and towns close the Armenian capital where finding a job is much easier than in other parts of the country.
“There are two of us: me and my wife,” one Karabakh Armenian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service in Yerevan on Friday. “They are giving us 6 million drams. What can I buy with that money?”
The sum is also too small for Ashot Ohanian, a former Stepanakert resident who now lives in Gyumri with his wife and two children. His family too is struggling to pay for an apartment rented by it in Armenia’s second largest city.
“Apartment rents here quickly rose from 20,000-30,000 drams [per month] to 180,000-200,000 drams [after the influx of Karabakh refugees,]” complained Ohanian.
On Wednesday, the five parties represented in Karabakh’s exiled parliament criticized the planned housing scheme, saying that it “will not meet the minimum expectations of our displaced compatriots.”
“Such decisions will lead to the disappointment and dissatisfaction of our compatriots, which will encourage their emigration and a wave of protests and undermine our enduring hope for a collective return [to Karabakh,]” they said in a joint statement. “We urge [the government] to refrain from ill-considered and inadequate steps.”
The statement also stressed that so far Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration has not discussed its aid programs with any elected representatives of the Karabakh Armenians. “And the proposals presented by us by various means have been ignored,” it said.
Pashinian has reportedly refused to meet Samvel Shahramanian, the Karabakh president, and other Karabakh leaders since they took refuge in Armenia. He has repeatedly indicated that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration.
The Armenian premier pledged in December to “do everything” to make sure that the Karabakh Armenians stay in Armenia instead of emigrating to Russia or other countries. His critics maintain, however, that his government is not doing enough to help the refugees.
Many refugees have also complained that Armenian ministries, law-enforcement agencies and local government bodies are rejecting their job applications on the grounds that they do not have Armenian citizenship or are not registered in permanent places of residence in the country. Pashinian and other government officials declared in October that the refugees are not Armenian citizens despite the fact that virtually all of them hold Armenian passports. Some legal experts disputed those claims.
Only those Karabakh Armenians who apply for Armenian citizenship will be eligible for the planned housing funding.
RFE/RL’s Armenian Service
