Epress.am News from Armenia
Residents of 32 Artsakh are ready to go to extreme measures if the government and South Caucasus Railway CJSC evict them from the building, obliging them to move to smaller apartments without adequate facilities, the residents informed the Epress.am correspondent on the scene. Note, according to the contract signed between the Government of Armenia and South Caucasus Railway, the property is to be transferred to the company and other apartments will be provided to the current tenants.
The residents, the majority of whom are South Caucasus Railway employees, say their dissatisfaction is connected to the disproportionate compensation: the dilapidated apartments offered in 42 Artsakh are incomparably smaller than the apartments they currently live in, the toilets are shared, and there is no kitchen.
"They at least should give [us] a building with communal facilities. They allocate12 square meters and say, build the toilet, shower, and kitchen, install the door and windows, and go live," said one of the residents.
Note, the tenants' current apartments are not in good condition either; furthermore, the current building is in an area monitored by the railway depot, where residents enter and exit by showing a pass. In any case, they are afraid of losing what they have.
The bathroom in the current apartments
According to residents, representatives of the RA Ministry of Transport and Communication and the South Caucasus Railway are forcing them to give written consent to the relocation; otherwise, the police on April 1 "will simply throw [us out]."
"I've been living here for more than 21 years; they give a family of13 people 41 square meters of space — how I'm going to fit 13 beds in that space, I don't know. They don't even want to listen to us — they just threaten [us]. We've lived in this dump for so many years and we never complained, but if we compare with what's being offered now, these are palaces," said Anush Khechumyan.
Residents claim that the fate of the building's 12 families depends on unknown individuals, and a government decision doesn't exist. "We ask, where's the government decision? They say, 'It will be when you sign.' Sign, so that they can throw us out like dogs, and then we all find ourselves on the street. If you are a stable person and there's a decision that we have to vacate this area, then provide humane conditions, so we can go and live like humans," complained Naira Hovhannisyan.
According to her, she has to live with her two children and ill mother in the 24 square meters offered to her. "Soon I will send a soldier to the army — for whom is he going to serve? This government? By working as a cleaner, what am I feeding that soldier, so that they come and take him tomorrow to serve his country, and the country to throw us out on the street. If they don't resolve our issue, we will go to the most extreme measures," she concluded.