Up until this April, the government gave each refugee, who does not own a home or live in a government shelter in Armenia, 50,000 drams ($125) per month for rent and utility fees. The aid program has benefited most of some 105,000 Karabakh Armenians who fled their homeland after it was recaptured by Azerbaijan in September 2023.
The government decided in November 2024 to phase out the program. It said that starting from April 1, the financial aid will be provided only to children, university or college students, pensioners and disabled persons forced to flee Karabakh. The monthly allowance paid to them was due to be cut to 40,000 drams in April and to 30,000 drams in July.
Thousands of refugees rallied in Yerevan on March 29 to demand that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet rescind its decision. Organizers of the rally pledged to resume the protests later this month after rejecting minor concessions offered by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatrian.
During its latest weekly session chaired by Pashinian, the government decided to extend the housing scheme by two months, saying that it needs more time to discuss “proposals to improve socially oriented programs” for refugees.
In anticipation of that decision, Karabakh activists coordinating the protests announced on Tuesday evening that they will dismantle their small tent camp set up in Yerevan’s Liberty Square and hold further talks with government officials.
“If there is need for a second rally … we will follow that path,” one of them told journalists.
The Armenian authorities appear to have been seriously concerned about the campaign against the scrapping of the housing aid. Over the past month, some members and supporters of the ruling Civil Contract party have lambasted Karabakh Armenians on social media.
Arsen Torosian, a former health minister who currently heads a standing committee of the Armenian parliament, has alleged that the March 29 rally was part of a “fight against the existence of the Republic of Armenia.” For his part, a deputy chief of Pashinian’s staff has described the disgruntled refugees as a “protest material” for the Armenian opposition.
The organizers of that rally also voiced political demands. In particular, they demanded that Yerevan take “all possible legal, political and diplomatic steps to ensure the collective return of the people of Artsakh to their homeland.”
Pashinian’s government does not raise this issue in its peace talks with Azerbaijan or on multilateral international platforms. Pashinian has repeatedly indicated that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration. He has berated Karabakh’s Yerevan-based leaders for continuing to present themselves as a government in exile and threatened to crack down on them.