YEREVAN—The Armenian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has issued passports to forcibly displaced citizens of Artsakh listing Azerbaijan as their birthplace.
Multiple individuals applying for Armenian citizenship told Tert.am that their passports incorrectly designate Azerbaijan as their birthplace.
In response to these concerns, the MIA clarified that the registration of personal data in identification documents follows international standards, specifically ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) Standard 9303, which mandates that birthplace entries adhere to the ISO 3166 geographical coding system.
The MIA’s Migration and Citizenship Service warned that any entries not in line with international regulations could cause complications at border crossings, citing multiple reports from border control authorities. The ministry emphasized that new documents are issued in strict adherence to international standards, with relevant authorities working to resolve discrepancies.
“Why should I take an oath for an Azerbaijani passport?”
Aren Hayrapetyan, forcibly displaced from Artsakh, has received Armenian citizenship but now seeks to renounce his passport after discovering his birthplace is listed as “Azerbaijan.” Born and raised in Stepanakert and forcibly displaced in September 2023, Hayrapetyan expressed confusion over the designation, noting that not all forcibly displaced persons from Artsakh who have obtained Armenian citizenship face the same issue.
“I accepted citizenship, and it says Azerbaijan. There was the USSR, and Karabakh was part of that composition as the NKAO (Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast). When I asked about it, they said ‘that’s how it is.’ Now, I haven’t participated in the oath ceremony. Why should I take an oath for an Azerbaijani passport? Should I say, ‘I swear to be a citizen of Armenia,’ but with an Azerbaijani passport?” Hayrapetyan told reporters.
“If this is not resolved, and they do not change my new passport to reflect my birthplace as the Republic of Armenia, I will tear it up. I do not need this passport,” he added.
Hayrapetyan explained that he initially sought citizenship primarily to qualify for a housing program as a father of five. However, he felt misled after being told his children would automatically receive Armenian citizenship, only to later learn that they must apply separately.
“At first, they said if parents became citizens, the children would ‘automatically’ become citizens. I naively and happily accepted this Azerbaijani passport, but later was told that the children must also apply for citizenship. Why are we being deceived?” he said.
MFA’s statement sparks backlash from Artsakh officials
The controversy coincides with a statement from Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), declaring that the Artsakh issue has been “removed from the agenda of the normalization of interstate relations between Armenia-Azerbaijan” following Artsakh’s dissolution.
The announcement drew sharp criticism from the Artsakh Information Headquarters, which called the ministry’s stance legally unfounded and accused it of distracting from real issues facing the Armenian public.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, citing a document that never existed in the legal framework of Artsakh, simultaneously disregards the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Artsakh,” reads the statement from Artsakh’s Information Headquarters, which further pointed out that, under the Constitution of Artsakh, no official, including the president, has the authority to dissolve the republic. “The authority to do so belongs solely to the people of Artsakh, and it is inseparable from them,” the statement continues.
The Artsakh Information Headquarters stated that the so-called dissolution decree was issued under extreme circumstances, following Azerbaijan’s large-scale military offensive. “Artsakh was left to defend itself against an adversary with vastly superior forces,” the statement reads.
“This so-called decree was never published on the unified website of normative legal acts nor officially released. Instead, a press release was distributed through Artsakh’s Information Headquarters at the request of the Azerbaijani side, which cannot be considered an official publication of a legal document,” the Artsakh Information Headquarters stated.
The Artsakh Information Headquarters added that just days after his transfer to Yerevan, Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan invalidated the September 26, 2023 decree.
The Artsakh Information Headquarters called on the Armenian MFA to reconsider its position. “We urge the Armenian government to bring the issue of Artsakh and its displaced population back onto the agenda of interstate relations with Azerbaijan. We are prepared to provide all relevant documents and, if necessary, make them public,” the statement concluded.
Political reactions
Ishkhan Saghatelyan, MP of the National Assembly and Representative of the ARF Supreme Council of Armenia, also condemned the MFA’s stance, accusing Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government of echoing Azerbaijani demands to close the Artsakh issue. He condemned what he called an “anti-Armenian and anti-state” move to absolve Pashinyan of responsibility for the surrender of Artsakh and place the blame on various parties, including the people of Artsakh and their representatives.
“The efforts of Aliyev’s Armenian ‘lawyers’ are futile and ineffective,” Saghatelyan wrote on Facebook, noting that even Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has not referenced the decree dissolving the state institutions of Artsakh in his calls to close the Artsakh issue. Saghatelyan stressed that history cannot be rewritten, and Pashinyan’s actions and statements are the root cause of the current situation.
“As long as the people of Artsakh exist, who wish to return to their homes, the issue of Artsakh remains unresolved. The protection of the rights of the people of Artsakh is our collective duty,” he concluded.
Arthur Khachatryan, an MP and member of the ARF Supreme Council, went further, accusing Pashinyan of sabotaging Artsakh’s security. “Under Pashinyan’s leadership, Artsakh has become a tool for controlling Armenia, a metaphorical ‘rope’ around the country’s neck,” he wrote on Facebook.
The MP responded to the MFA’s statement about the decree signed by the president of Artsakh, who, Khachatryan noted, was “forced to sign this decree to prevent Azerbaijani forces from entering peaceful cities and villages and to minimize the number of casualties.”
“The illegal, groundless document saved tens of thousands of people, allowing them to reach Armenia. But now, Pashinyan and his government are using this very document to justify their betrayal of Artsakh,” he continued.
Khachatryan concluded by accusing the government of focusing on maintaining power at all costs, rather than protecting Artsakh and its people. “If they genuinely cared about Artsakh, they would have contested the validity of this document as soon as the last person from Artsakh crossed into Armenia. But they didn’t, because their goal was never to keep Artsakh—it was to hold onto power by any means necessary.”
Hoory Minoyan
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Since Armenia in the wake of defeat renounced claims and the area is internationally recognised as Azerbaijan upon the basis of it being in the Azeri SSR like all other parts of the former soviet union then it would have been legally wrong to refer to it as Armenia no matter how emotive the issue is. Indeed such persons seeking nationality of any other country would be listed by their authorities as Azerbaijan. Or do they want the situation akin to the Palestinians in Lebanon and Syria who have intergenerational refugee status as unable to go back to the former Palestine as of the British mandate area, living in Armenia but unable to receive Armenian nationality from their ethnic kin and the burden of being stateless and ultimately used as a stalking horse by puppeteers and agitators like the Palestinians have by their “brother Arabs” . The Armenian government is in granting citizenship accepting it’s brethren and not using them as a foil to expect them to return to Azerbaijan when everything documented will be in Azeri and the Alyiev cult or to join the wider Armenian diaspora …
Before the Second Artsakh War, Aliyev fooled the outside world, by saying that Azerbaijan would give the Armenians of Artsakh “the highest autonomy in the world”. But after Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 war, he completely rescinded the offer by saying that “Nagorno-Karabakh will never be given autonomy”, while maintaining his pretense that “Armenians living in Karabakh must either accept Azerbaijani citizenship or look for another place to live” and that “I am sure that the majority of the Armenian population living in Karabakh today is ready to accept Azerbaijani citizenship. It’s just that these leeches, these wild animals, the separatists don’t allow it” (meaning the Artsakhi leaders and officials). After the fall of Artsakh and the ethnic cleansing of all Armenians in 2023, Aliyev also dropped his pretense of granting the Armenians of Artsakh Azerbaijani citizenship and passports. Since Azerbaijan will never grant Azerbaijani citizenship to Armenians and allow them to live in Azerbaijan, let alone in Artsakh, where almost every Armenian cultural heritage has been systematically destroyed, whole apartment blocks and villages razed to the ground, the naturalization and integration of Artsakhi refugees in Armenia is a must. They must not languish like Palestinian refugees for decades in limbo. Traumatic and horrible as the loss of Artsakh is, at least there is still an independent Armenian state where Armenians can live and become its citizens. The Palestinians don’t have that at all.