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It is widely acknowledged that the security of the OSCE area and of the Mediterranean region is interconnected and the recent developments came to prove the veracity of this assumption, Armenian FM Edward Nalbandian stated at the 2017 OSCE Mediterranean Conference in Palermo.

In the minister’s words, the unprecedented large movements of migrants and refugees across Mediterranean and Middle East, in particular from Syria and Iraq require close regional cooperation in order to address such security related issues as combating terrorism, countering trafficking, dignified treatment of refugees.

“From Syria alone Armenia has harbored about 22.000 refugees, on per capita basis making our country the third largest recipient of Syrian refugees in Europe. This has caused a number of challenges for a country of just 3 million which has in the recent past already received hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing from Azerbaijan. Many of the Syrian Armenian refugees are descendants of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide who found shelter in Syria. One hundred years passed, they were forced once again to abandon their places of residence. Thus, Armenians know what it means to be a refugee and to host refugees,” stated Nalbandian.

The minister next spoke of the RA Government efforts in assisting the refugees and facilitating their integration, such as accelerated asylum procedures, facilitated naturalization, emergency and medical assistance, housing, scholarships, simplified access to educational institutions and labor market, flexible taxation and business environment.

“Armenia has also tried to reach out to the people who need assistance in Syria by continuous provision of humanitarian aid. The Consulate General of Armenia in Aleppo has been the only diplomatic mission in the city that despite challenging conditions has never stopped operating,” pointed Nalbandian, adding the comprehensive response to the large movements of migrants and refugees requires addressing root causes of this phenomenon, such as terrorism and identity based crimes.