Epress.am News from Armenia
Residents promised units in new buildings constructed on Aram, Yekmalyan, Buzand and Saryan streets were protesting outside the Armenian president’s residence earlier today. The reason? In 2006, they agreed to leave their homes (which the state later determined to be on public priority interest land) on the condition that they would be given new apartments. They signed an agreement with Gapbnakshin LLC Gagik Papoyan who promised them units in the new buildings, but the residents still haven’t received their apartments — in fact, the units have been sold to third parties.
“In 2006, my home was demolished. They were supposed to construct [the new building] in two years; they haven’t; then later it became known that even after it’s built, my apartment has been sold to someone residing in Russia. We don’t know what to do, who to contact. They say builder Gago Papoyan has escaped; they’ve issued a judgment against someone else. We have found ourselves in an uncertain state,” one 40-year-old man participating in today’s protest told Epress.am.
The residents assert that Papoyan is simply a pawn and that there are others more higher up in the food chain behind him, which is why the issue hasn’t been resolved. They named former mayor Yervand Zakaryan as one of the people behind Papoyan.
Demonstrators said on Nov. 28, 2011, they sent a letter to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, asking him to get them “out of this inextricable situation and help those who have been thrown onto the street by their compatriots in their own homeland not to lose their last hope to achieve justice.”
In response to the residents’ letter, staff at the presidential office said they did not have the authority to deal with this issue and advised the signatories to take the matter up in court. Thus, on Dec. 29, 2011, the case was sent to Armenia’s Special Investigation Service. Residents, however, say they don’t believe they will achieve anything through the law or with the court’s assistance.
“This is our last hope — the country’s president has to understand that citizens of this country are on the street,” said one participant in today’s demonstration.
The group today sent another letter to the Armenian President, again asking him to settle this issue. Head of the Presidential Oversight Service Hovhannes Hovsepyan met with several demonstrators in his office today. After the meeting, demonstrator Sona Maghakyan said Hovsepyan urged them to wait until the parliamentary elections.
“We won’t see anything after the elections — this means to run after a [moving] train. We will continue our protest demonstrations also through sit-ins. We have nothing to lose; let the president think [about it],” she said.
From the presidential residence, protestors marched to the Kentron (central) administrative district Notary Office and asked notary Alvard Melkonyan to provide explanations regarding their current situation. Melkonyan, however, refused to give any information, saying she too was deceived as she also acquired a unit in one of the new buildings and she can’t say anything.
“The case is in court. It’ll be clear what will happen after the court procedure,” she said.
Protestors then marched to the Special Investigation Service (SIS) offices, where they met with Vaghinak Janazyan who is investigating the case. Janazyan informed them that SIS needs months to examine the case, since hundreds of people have to be questioned. Needless to say, residents weren’t too pleased about this and left the office, preparing to continue their protests.
Updated 2:14 pm on Tues., Jan. 17 to reflect a more accurate portrayal of the situation. The residents were not evicted or evacuated per se, as they voluntarily agreed to leave their apartments. However, they did so on the understanding that they would be given new homes in the new apartments.