They often call themselves the new gypsies of Europe, but in fact they are Armenian illegal immigrants, searching for an elusive, better life in Poland, thousands of miles away from their homes and families in Armenia.
They have no work permits, and no healthcare. Most of their children stay at home, because parents—despite assurances to the contrary by the Polish authorities—are afraid to be caught and deported.
In Warsaw and almost every town and city across Poland from Gdansk in the north to Krakow in the south, an estimated 70,000 to more than 100,000 Armenian illegal immigrants face an uncertain future. Vagabonds who have left their homeland due to war, unemployment, economic hardships and poverty and dropped anchor at the gates of western Europe.
According to Polish Immigration authorities, the Armenians are part of a 600,000-strong illegal immigrant population now living in Poland. Many are from the former Soviet Union but some are from as far away countries like Vietnam.
"Poland was their country of choice because they considered it a stepping-stone into Western Europe. But Poland will soon be a member of the European Union and the immigrants seem to prefer staying here rather than risking arrest while trying to cross into Germany.
"Why go anywhere else when the European Union is coming here," a Polish social worker said.
For the time being, the Polish authorities are only trying to prevent the arrival of new illegal immigrants by tightening their frontiers with neighboring Russia, Ukraine and Belarus—all members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) whose doors are open to other CIS members like Armenia.
"For many years, Poland did not require entry visas for CIS nationals, but now the authorities in Warsaw are realizing that this open-door policy can be counter-productive. They are also under pressure from the European Union headquarters in Brussels to stop the flow of CIS nationals into Poland," a Western diplomat said.
Illegal immigration is already a major social problem for many European countries like France and Germany, and Poland is not that far behind.
"The Polish government cannot keep turning a blind eye forever. More than 600,000 illegal immigrants in a European country of 40 million like Poland can have some serious repercussions," he said.
European diplomats say given the free and open borders between the members of the EU, the presence of hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from the former Soviet Union, including some 100,000 Armenians, can cause major social and economic problems in the region.
"Once Poland becomes a full member of the EU, then the Polish-German border will disappear and the citizens of the two countries will drive freely from one country to the other. Germany cannot leave its border unguarded if such a large number of illegal immigrants remain in Poland," another European diplomat said.
Faced with the new realities, the Polish authorities have opened a separate department within the interior ministry designed to deal with issues involving illegal immigration.
The 40-room department is already functioning above its capacity and plans are underway to expand its operations to deal with the thousands of applications for residence permits.
"Poland is becoming a very ethnically diverse society and the push by illegals to settle down has just started," an official explained.
But Poland is also under pressure from the European Commission to halt the flow of non-Poles into the country. "The European Union does not want to absorb hundreds of thousands of people from the former Soviet Union," one official said.
In an effort to halt the influx, the Polish authorities have all but sealed their eastern borders, especially in the face of Armenian citizens trying to enter Poland from the Ukraine and Belarus.
Similar measures have also been taken at the Polish-German border to avoid any infiltration by the illegal immigrants into Germany.
"As of now, all Armenian citizens wishing to enter Poland need visas, something which did not exist earlier this year. And with no Polish Embassy in Armenia, the situation gets ever harder and more complicated," a Warsaw-based Armenian diplomat said.
"We have opened an Armenian Embassy in Warsaw and we are now waiting for the Polish government to reciprocate. The presence of a Polish Embassy in Armenia will be a very positive thing," he said.
Interviews with scores of illegal Armenian immigrants indicate an overwhelming desire to return to their homeland, but the reality seldom reflects that.
"We would like to go back tomorrow if only conditions were better. Many of us have family and parents in Armenia who depend on the few dollars we send back home every month ... but this is a difficult life and our future is dark. We feel trapped” said Arsen, a father of four young children who runs a small kiosk selling compact discs at the central Warsaw sports stadium which has been converted into a huge flea-market.
"In this location alone there are more than 2,000 to 3,000 Armenian traders. The Polish authorities know that we are here and have no residence permits, but they do not bother us. They turn a blind eye until one of us gets into trouble," he said.
In one corner of the stadium, most Armenians said they were from the Armenian town of Ashtarak who had followed their friends to Poland "because there is work here." "There are a number of school teachers and even a couple of engineers who have left their families behind in search of a better life. Nearly all of us send money back home to support our families and relatives who have no real income," Arsen said.
The stadium's "traders" pay rent to a management agency which allocates small blocks of space on a monthly basis. "You can do business as long as you pay your rent. Sometimes we have to make other under the table payments to stay here," he said.
Arsen's story is that of the majority of illegal immigrants. They survive day-by-day but see no future for themselves and their families unless their status is legalized in one form or another.
"I am not asking for Polish citizenship. All I want is to have a work permit to function peacefully and pay my taxes like everybody else. I want a legal status which will allow me to leave Poland and be able to get back," Arsen, who declined to further identify himself, said.
According to official statistics, 217 Armenians applied for refugee status in 1997 and only three of the applications were approved. During the same year, 130 Armenians applied for visa extensions, and only 49 were approved.
"Those who come forward with these applications are less than a minority. The illegal immigrants just don't bother with even trying to legalize their status. They just stay," an immigration lawyer said.
At a small Armenian kiosk-type restaurant in central Warsaw, the conversation shifts from home front Armenian politics to unemployment and the prospects of returning to Armenia.
The patrons are often unemployed themselves, just hanging out and waiting for an opportunity to make a few dollars to see them through the week.
"Imagine more than 100,000 Armenians living in Poland as a society of street vendors. More than 95 percent are illegal immigrants who are effectively trapped in Poland with nowhere to go...except Armenia where there is no work," said one of the patrons.
"A few people got together a few years ago and tried opening a small school for the Armenian children, but they did not succeed because of financial reasons. At the moment, the majority of the children of the illegal Armenian immigrants are either at home, out on the streets, or helping their parents in the market. This situation can only lead to more trouble and even crime," restaurant manager Levon Hovsepian said.
Hovsepian himself is technically "employed" by a Polish citizen who owns the restaurant. He came to Poland five years ago after losing his acting job in Yerevan.
"I have a family to feed and I was not finding work as an actor...Poland was open to Armenians, so I chose to come here rather than one of the countries of the former Soviet Union. Poland, after all, is Europe," Hovsepian said.
Similar stories are everywhere. There are the former factory workers, teachers, engineers, musicians, army deserters, and draft dodgers. The flow of Armenian immigration into Poland escalated in 1993 due to the devastating effects of a harsh winter, a total blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey, and the collapse of the country's industrial infrastructure.
Armen Saribekian was a shoe factory worker near Gyumri, a city which was devastated by the 1988 earthquake in Armenia.
"I lost my job, and for several years I tried to make a living selling cigarettes on street corners. I could not survive, so I decided to join my friends here in Gdansk," he said.
Saribekian has since married a Ukrainian woman and become a Ukrainian citizen, a status which allows him to travel in an out of Poland without restrictions.
"I will go back to Armenia once 1 save enough money to start a small business there," said Saribekian, who sells cheap men's clothing out of a truck in one of Gdansk's small bazaars.
An estimated 800,000 Armenians have left their country since independence in 1991, many heading to Russia, the Central Asian republics and the other countries of the former Soviet Union.
The exodus has slowed down in the last few years, mainly because of the high cost of living in most of the countries of the former Soviet Union which were among the popular destinations of the departing Armenians.
"A lot has changed since the early 1990's when things were cheap and most of these countries had not given the potential problems of illegal immigration much thought. There is more control now and the influx has slowed down," Hovsepian said,
But for those illegal Armenian immigrants, life is becoming more and more difficult, especially for the thousands of families with school-age children.
"By definition, an illegal immigrant is poor, lives with a dozen others like him in the same house. He has no rights and does not enjoy any of the privileges of a citizen. Life under these circumstances can be, and in fact is, devastating for any ethnic group anywhere in the world," a Polish social worker said.
Life for the 100,000 plus illegal Armenian immigrants is not far from that definition. In some cases it's worse.
Schooling is available, but parents are afraid to register their children for fear of being tracked down by the authorities. Healthcare is expensive and often out of reach for the vast majority of the illegal immigrants.
"Imagine a new Armenian generation growing up on the streets of Poland, without an education, culture or faith. This is the ugly truth," Hovsepian said.
