Epress.am News from Armenia
Tsaghkahovit villager Arayik Sardaryan, who has held several protest actions at the Aragatsotn regional administration against the “unfair” housing allocations in the village, intends to file an appeal with the office of Armenia's General Prosecutor to investigate the “illegal” apartment assignment process in a newly constructed residential building in Tsaghkahovit.
“It's obvious: the apartments which were originally envisaged for those who lost their homes in the 1988 earthquake have illegally been given to people with no housing problems. The village head of Tsaghkahovit has also confirmed this. He said that some of the assignees already owned apartments in the village. He also admitted that some of the people were not even Tsaghkahovit residents and were originally from Ashtarak. There is also this one person who rewrote his two-storey house to another name to be able to receive a new apartment. As a result, 12 undeserving families were provided housing,” Sardaryan told Epress.am.
The villager alleged that Aragatsotn governor Sargis Sahakyan has lied in his interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service claiming that “all the apartments have been assigned to those affected by the earthquake.” Sardaryan added that Tsaghkahovit village head Yervand Khachatryan, who personally participated in the allocation process, came up with ridiculous excuses when faced with the list of people who had received “illegal apartments.”
Speaking to Epress.am, the village head said “Arayik is a blackmailer, and he owns a house in Tsaghkahovit.” Khachatryan, however, refused to elaborate and promptly hung up the phone.