Vahe Makaryan
The police have put into circulation the project on defining the description and assessment criteria of significant contributions in the fields of economy, science, education, culture, healthcare, and sports, by which foreign citizens will be able to acquire RA citizenship due to making a certain contribution to Armenia. We made a separate publication about it yesterday.
According to the project, for example, the description of the significant contribution in the field of economy and the evaluation criteria are defined as follows:
1) gratuitous provision of funds in the amount of at least 150,000 US dollars for the purpose of supplementing the inviolable capital of a foundation established to carry out activities in the field of education or science.
2) investment in the charter capital (acquisition of shares) of a commercial organization in the amount of at least 150,000 USD for a period of at least 10 years,
3) acquisition of government bonds in the amount of at least 150,000 US dollars, for a period of at least 7 years.
This means that, for example, the representatives of our enemy nations, Turks, Azerbaijanis, can come to Armenia unhindered, make an investment of 150 thousand dollars and get Armenian citizenship, earning the right to participate in the management of Armenia’s internal life.
The former Prime Minister of Armenia, Khosrov Harutyunyan, considers it very dangerous to implement this project, raising the question of whether this is citizenship for investment, or under statehood of slow activity.
In a conversation with Hraparak.am , he reminded that they received such a proposal back in 2017 from a Canadian-Armenian person, but they rejected it.
“I was the chairman of the NA Economic Affairs Committee at that time, and at that time I rejected that proposal and sent a negative opinion to the National Security Service, because that proposal appeared in the National Security Service as well,” said Harutyunyan.
According to the former prime minister, the idea is as follows. it is obvious that if someone tries to move with that proposal, he should probably record that becoming a citizen of the Republic of Armenia gives him some additional advantages or opportunities that he does not have, being a citizen of his country.
“Because there can be no other incentive. If a person has to invest money to get RA citizenship, then he will need that citizenship very much. And his problem is not to improve our economic capabilities, but to obtain citizenship, assuming that in this way he acquires another, additional opportunity, which he does not have if he continues to remain a non-RA citizen. Agree that we, the citizens of RA, do not differ in any way from the citizens of the countries around us in that respect. An RA citizen does not have any extraordinary opportunities, say, to travel to Europe, China or other countries without a visa. Our tax burden on citizens does not differ much from the tax burden of our neighboring countries. In other words, what will become a citizen of the Republic of Armenia give to someone? We can state without reservations: nothing,” said our interlocutor.
In that case, what should be the interest in getting RA citizenship?
According to Harutyunyan, after the adoption of this project, it is obvious that our close neighbors will want to become citizens of Armenia, especially in the case of such sums.
“It is a very convenient way to enter your territory without fighting, without using weapons, and gradually change both the civil and political structure of your country, and, over time, gradually penetrating into political institutions, influence the process of forming the authorities of your country. This will be the only goal. In other words, imagine that Turks or Azerbaijanis can get RA citizenship by giving 150 thousand dollars, and over the years their share in our population can be quite impressive. In other words, it will become a fifth column, which will also penetrate into your political structures, public organizations, and, in fact, this will become a mine of slow activity at the base of our statehood,” said Khosrov Harutyunyan.