Business As Usual at Mashtots Park

“We, the residents and citizens of Armenia defending Mashtots Park for 22 days non stop already, have still not received an adequate resolution to the public protest by city authorities. We condemn the appropriation of public property lands and the subordination of public interest to private [interests].

“On behalf of the 5,000 petitioners and the broader Yerevan public concerned of the fate of Mashtots Park, we demand all structures in the public park to be immediately dismantled,” reads a statement by local civic initiative “We are the owners of this city” issued today.

Recall, environmental and civic activists have been camped out nearly every day for over three weeks in the central Yerevan park, protesting the construction of shops that were dismantled on Abovyan St. and moved to Mashtots Park, one of the few remaining green spaces in the Armenian capital. Authorities have stipulated that the shops (pavilions) are temporary — the owners of the shops on Abovyan St. had signed a 10-year contract with the city and have 3 years remaining on their contract. Thus, the shops were to be placed in the park for 3 years.

Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan had said: “This project has to be confirmed also by the government so that there is public trust that this problem will be solved. I, generally, am against the placing of permanent pavilions, and I have to do everything [possible] so that those pavilions are moved. There shouldn’t be permanent pavilions in parks. There is a problem of green spaces in Yerevan, and I am displeased that there is major construction happening there.”

However, the partially constructed shops have not been dismantled yet and it’s business as usual in the park.