Opposition Freedom Party Chairman, former PM and MP and economist Hrant Bagratyan, has reflected on the social media discussions with respect to the actual number of people who emigrated from the Republic of Armenia (RA) during the tenures of the three former presidents of the country.
“First President: 586 thousand, 2nd: 129 thousand and third: 307 thousand. Total: 1,022 thousand people. You can’t issue such numbers without understanding,” Bagratyan wrote on Facebook. “From 1989 to 1991, 400,000 people came to Armenia from Azerbaijan. [But] their entry was not registered (there was no border guard service in the Armenian SSR).
“Later, 340,000 from that 400,000 left Armenia, since the US and the RF [Russian Federation] did special programs for them. And their exit has been registered (there already was the border guard service). In 1994, all this was clarified thanks to special registration.
“So, you can’t register the exit only without registering the entry. (…). The right number is 340,000 subtracted from all that, or to note 340,000 entry alongside the 586 thousand exit of the 1st President. That is, in reality, 682 thousand, and not 1,022 thousand RA citizens have left the country.”