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Armenia received 84 asylum applications about 145 people in January -September 2018, the head of the country’s migration service Armen Ghazaryan told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. In Ghazaryan’s words, 36 applications out of the total number were solved with 67 people granted a refugee status, while 18 applications were rejected.

In terms of geography, Ghazaryan said most of the applications had been submitted from Syria, Iraq and Yemen: “As a result of the civil war and humanitarian crisis in Yemen, we have increased asylum seekers from that country. We live in a volatile region where the number of asylum seekers increases during an escalation of any conflict,” added the speaker.

Ghazaryan outlined the housing issue as the main problem refugees currently face.

“Housing was been periodically provided to refugees from Azerbaijan, yet the housing issue has not been fully addressed even after they obtained Armenian citizenship. In 2004, the Armenian government adopted a decision to provide housing to refugees yet the programme was stopped in 2009 due to insufficient budget means. Today, we are working to address the matter both through budget and at the same time elaborate on attracting alternative means,” the head of the migration service said.