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Open Letter to Armenian Prime Minister to Prevent Construction in Yerevan

Protesting the construction of a high-rise residential building at 5 Komitas Avenue in Yerevan, residents of the adjacent buildings today issued an open letter to RA Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, expressing hope that he will resolve the issue.

"Appealing to you are frustrated residents of 5a Komitas in Yerevan, who for four years have been knocking on the doors of various state officials who are occupying and have occupied high-ranking positions. Hearing your speeches at meetings with the public, in the National Assembly, at the Republican Party of Armenia convention, that no illegal act will go unpunished, a hope arose [within us] that with your intervention our problem finally will be resolved. 

"We inform you that from 2011 till today, putting aside our concerns and real work to do, we have been fighting (about which RA Minister of Urban Development Narek Sargsyan is well aware) at the court […] and administrative levels against the illegal construction at Komitas 5. However, with police violence and the notorious actions of the police to ‘protect’ the developer from its own people, the construction is carried out comprised of gross violations of the existing RA construction, maintenance, and other legislative acts and without the parameters of the 01/18-2-45526-0004 project approved on Nov. 1, 2013 […] 

"The developer expanded the building on all sides, violating the approved project and distance requirements of the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations and a number of other relevant bodies, depriving our building of emergency aid, fire safety, and evacuation routes from all sides, as well as from green space, illegally cutting down around 20 trees. 

"It's a sad fact that even in the case of an emptying Armenia — as you said in parliament, 'what is a country without its people?' — some leaders of our country deem a priority the interest of one investor fascinated with the obsession of new profits and having homes and apartments in not only Armenia, but also other countries, thus ignoring the legal rights of about 150 residents.

"Dear Prime Minister, we ask for your corresponding intervention to prevent the illegal construction at Komitas 5, which is illegal and fraught with catastrophic consequences during a fire and other emergencies," reads the letter, in full. The authors of the letter hope they will not be deceived. 

Residents of the buildings adjacent to 5 Komitas Avenue together with the civil society activists supporting them held several protests in August 2013; however, to no avail. Construction on the building continues.