Norayr Mouradkhanyan, head of the Police Department’s Division of Passports and Visas, stated today that 4,323 individuals received RoA citizenship in 2009, 2.5 times more than during the past eleven years. When asked how many of these had received dual citizenship, Mr. Mouradkhanyan answered that the law regarding this status only came into effect at the end of 2007 and that citizenship status only started to be granted as of 1997. He said that during the ten years since 1997, 1,735 received citizenship and this number shot up to 1,554 during 2008 alone, the first year that dual citizenship was granted. Mr. Mouradkhanyan said that most of the 1,554 involved dual citizenship status.