Haykandukht Karapetyan, the mother of the family, states that, “After the earthquake we were 399th on the list of those ‘in need of an apartment”. As a family with three young children receiving assistance, we should have benefited from this situation but our number never came up. The “Apartment Purchasing Certificate” given by the government is valued at $16,000 which in Gyumri isn’t even enough to buy a one room apartment. In 2004 my husband and our 16 year-old son went to Tatarastan to find work and make some money to add to the Certificate and thus buy something suitable. They left and we curse the day they went.”

In Tatarastan, Voskehask village resident Ararat Muradyan took the passports of Robert Karapetyan and his son, on the pretext of getting them temporarily registered. Muradyan proceeded to enslave the two through a series of beatings and threats. For more than one year the father and son were forced to work as construction laborers and survived on nothing more than hard bread and macaroni. Afterwards Muradyan was criminally convicted and is now in jail. Given that Muradyan has no assets to his name the Karapetyans have not been able to receive any monetary compensation for the economic deprivations they suffered.

“As if this wasn’t enough, they came and removed us from the hut we were living in” recounts Haykandukht Karapetyan. “A sports complex for School #30 in Gyumri was to be built by the Lincy Fund and our hut was located on that property.”

 Mrs. Karapetyan adds that, “Anushavan Papikyan, Head of the Mayor’s Housing Division, told us to rent a place and promised to cover two years of the rent. We didn’t agree to the proposal since we’d be living on the street until we found a place. I said that as a family that would soon become homeless we were lawfully eligible for an apartment, at least in the distant and destitute Mush #2 district.”

On October 9, 2007, by a decision taken by Mayor Ghukasyan, the Karapetyans were allocated a three room apartment in Building 7/1 in the Mush #2 district. On the same day the family of five was given the apartment documents and was taken off the list of “apartment needy”.

“This isn’t a home…It’s the ruins of Ani. We were forced to install windows. There’s no door or floor; just cement on all four sides. It’s warmer outside than inside. During the winter we were all laid-up sick in bed” notes Mrs. Karapetyan.

She personally met with Mayor Ghukasyan to request assistance for necessary apartment repairs. He recalls that he stated, “OK, I’ll write something up to cover two years worth of rent and you can use the money for repairs.”

Three months after getting the new apartment she signed a contract with the Mayor according to which the family was obligated to vacate the premises of the small house located in the proximity of School #30. As compensation, the Municipality would make a lump-sum payment of 480,000 drams to cover two years of rent. The contract stipulated that, “All sides to the contract would fulfill their obligations fully and said obligations were non-negotiable”.

Mrs. Karapetyan states, “When the contract was signed they told us that, at the latest, we’d receive the money in a month. That deadline has long since passed. The Municipality’s Finance Division says they’ve received no authorization to make such a payment. Beats me why they’re dragging their feet and not paying up. I written the Mayor twice but my letters go unanswered.”

The Official Committee of the Gyumri Regional Real Estate Cadastre (registry) has not only requested the Karapetyans to present the deed to the apartment but also Form 17, in order to register the apartment as private property. When Mrs. Karapetyan went to the Passport Office to obtain this document she was told that the apartment in question was registered to a certain Andranik and Artak Balasanyan.

It turns out that the Balasanyans obtained the apartment a long time ago and then left for Russia. In the words of Mrs. Karapetyan, they never lived in the place and no one in the building knows who they are.

“They took our name off the waiting list but we can’t get this apartment registered as our property. The people in whose name it is registered have the same rights as we do. Right now they’re at the age of military conscription. One day, after they turn 27, they’ll show up and lay claim to this place. The Municipality can produce the rent contract and claim that they gave us money to rent a place with and that this apartment isn’t ours. I was at fault. I shouldn’t have trusted them and rather should have insisted that the contract specify that the money was for repairs. I am still loath to believe that the Mayor’s Office is capable of such deceit” states Mrs. Karapetyan.

The Karapetyans have written to the President and Prime Minister requesting their intervention in the matter. To date they have received no reply.

Mrs. Karapetyan concludes, “The situation is unfathomable. We don’t know where we stand and what our status is. Do we have a house or not? At least the hut was ours. Now we are waiting with trepidation for the day they’ll come and throw us out of here by the order of some unknown person.”