State support program for national minorities to hit AMD 20mln in Armenia this year

YEREVAN, March 14. /ARKA/. Armenia’s government distributed Thursday 20 million drams between the national minority communities of Armenia to support them. 

Currently, the representatives of 11 national groups are residing in Armenia –Kurds, Yezidis, Assyrians, Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, Jews, Belarusians, Georgians, Germans and Poles. 

The budget funds will be allocated to the national public organizations. The Assyrian, Belarus, German, Yezidi, Polish, Greek, Jewish, Russian, Georgian and Kurdish communities will receive 818,000 drams each, and the Ukrainian community –over 11.8 million drams. 

According to official statistics, the national minorities account for 2.5% of the population. The biggest community is that of Yezidis (about 42,000 people). Russians account for 14,000, of them 5,000 are Molokans. There are nearly 3,600 Assyrians in Armenia, 3,500 Ukrainians, 1,300 Greeks. The other minority communities account for less than 1000 people. ($1 – 412.75 drams). -0-