AMD 40,000 + 10,000 support for people displaced from Karabakh to continue for another year

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this during the National Assembly-Government question-and-answer session, responding to a question from Nazeli Baghdasaryan, an MP from the Civil Contract faction.

The MP asked whether the Government intended to continue the support programmes for people displaced from Karabakh that are due to end at the end of the year.

“The AMD 30,000 support provided to children, elderly people and persons with disabilities displaced from Karabakh will continue for another three months after December and will then be restructured. When we say that it will or will not continue, what we mean is that, as full-fledged residents of Armenia, they will already benefit from the social programmes available to all citizens of the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan replied.

According to the Prime Minister, special programmes arising from refugee status cannot operate indefinitely, and at a certain stage displaced people must transition to the general social programmes available to Armenian citizens.

“For a certain period, the programme must operate on the basis of refugee status, but at some point people must fully benefit from the social programmes available to citizens of the Republic of Armenia. As for the AMD 40,000 plus AMD 10,000 support, under the preliminary plan, it will continue for another year. That is our plan at this point,” he said.

According to Pashinyan, during this period the Government must make its citizenship acquisition and housing programmes as effective as possible.

“We must do everything to ensure that our citizenship acquisition and housing programmes are as effective as possible, so that people transition to beneficiary status under the social programmes operating in the Republic of Armenia, if they qualify for that status. In the case of people displaced from Karabakh, those programmes will operate in the same way as they do for citizens of the Republic of Armenia,” the Prime Minister said.

Nazeli Baghdasaryan responded that it was particularly important not to discontinue the support programmes during the winter. She also raised the issue of housing provision for families of one to three members, noting that, for example, it is difficult to purchase a home with the AMD 4 million provided for one person.

Pashinyan said that for single-person households, there is a support programme for long-term rental rather than for purchasing a home.

“You have already mentioned the risks yourself. Sometimes, with good intentions, we achieve bad results. In any case, the programme is dynamic. During previous discussions, taking into account certain compelling arguments presented by representatives of our sisters and brothers from Karabakh, we made changes,” the Prime Minister said.

According to him, if during the implementation of the programme the Government identifies justified and effective approaches that can address specific problems, further changes are not ruled out.

“Along the way, if we see that there are justified and effective approaches that can address specific problems, we do not rule out changes. But at this point, our formulas are those that I have announced,” Pashinyan concluded.