Epress.am News from Armenia
A number of residents of the old apartment buildings at 23, 25 Teryan St. and 37 Lalayants St. on Northern Avenue in downtown Yerevan have received eviction notices from the Justice Ministry's Compulsory Enforcement Service of Judicial Acts. In an interview with Epress.am, however, Teryan 23 resident Vardan Geravetyan said the tenants, being confident in the illegality of the corresponding court order, had no intention of moving out of their apartments.
Recall, under former president Robert Kocharyan’s rule the entire territory of the above-mentioned apartment buildings was announced eminent domain and sold by a Government decision to Local Developers company [owned by notorious businessman, owner of the Second Armenian (H2) TV Channel Company Samvel Mayrapetyan]. Geravetyan, on the other hand, insists that these buildings could not have been recognized to be of 'exceptional public interest' when Mayrapetyan plans to build a hotel on the same spot.
“We don't see a reason why we should leave our homes. Mayrapetyan intends to build a hotel there for the sake of profit. So it's a business. Who's he going to provide apartments with? Veterans? The homeless from Gyumri? What nationwide problem is he going to resolve? Where's the 'exceptional public interest' here? The law specifically states that there should be a plan of national importance, which is not the case here,” the tenant stated.
The other residents of these buildings, Geravetyan added, are going to fight for their right to property and will even resort to 'drastic measures,' if need be: “I knew from the start we would get no help at the courts. We've only gone there to exhaust all possible legals methods of struggle; now we can defend our rights and dignity with our own methods. 13 different judges have found that these people should be illegally deprived of their property. The citizen is left with no other choice but to resort to self defense.”
Answering Epress.am's question as to why the tenants did not want to accept Local Developers' offer of alternative apartments in nearby buildings or monetary compensation, Geravetyan claimed that “these proposals are illegal.” He said they did not even want to discuss these options since they were not convinced their buildings were being demolisged for the sake of public interest. Besides, Mayrapetyan's offered compensation “is way lower than the apartments' market value is” – everyone without exception has been offered about $800 per 1 sq.m. “Even those whose apartments are in the buildings nearest to the Northern Avenue.”
As for the proposed alternative apartments, Geravetyan said they were in a newly constructed building on Pushkin street which the tenants of nearby buildings have continuously been protesting against and have even gone to court to terminate its construction. It would be “unethical” to agree to these apartments when “these citizens have also been fighting against lawlessness,” Geravetyan noted.
Video in Armenian: