On April 21, 2005 the government decided to expropriate the land, some 9,400 square meters, via public domain laws. The area was slated to be developed and the Yerevan Municipality was assigned to complete the work during 2005 to 2009.

Towards this end, in July of 2006, Yerevan Mayor Yervant Zakharyan passed “Decision 119-A” and handed over oversight of the matter to the Yerevan Construction Projects Implementation Office (CPIO) attached to the Armenian Development Agency (ADA).

“I wanted to sign an agreement and bring in a partner. I went to the Cadastre to get the paperwork but they refused. I found out that the land had been seized.” recounts Nikola Melikyan. He along with his other businessmen friends in the same boat began writing petitions to various government agencies.

They received a response from the Yerevan Municipality that read, “According to the decisions of the government and the Municipality that land has been appropriated for state use. However, given that the land still hasn’t been recognized as a special “supreme public interest” it is impossible to study the matter.

By March 1, 2007, according to government decision 347-N, the land in questions was recognized as supreme public interest. The deadline to market the land was set as January 1, 2009 and the Yerevan Municipality was authorized to conduct a public auction to market the land for the public and government benefit.

“I would like to remind all that when the government started to implement that so-called “necessity for state needs concept” the Ombudsman filed a protest with the Constitutional Court which in turn recognized such decisions by the government as unconstitutional. In other words, 700 decisions of the government and the resulting 1,119 decisions of the Municipality have no authority. Furthermore, the decision of the Municipality was passed after the judgment of the Constitutional Court.” states Setrak Baghdasaryan, President of the “Victims of State Needs” NGO.

 Harutyun Vardanyan, one of the business owners at the Ajarian-Tzarav Aghbyur site, has his own theory on the “supreme interest” saying. “Whoever is in the government and has plundered a few million dollars can today legalize those amounts in places like this and the law is on their side. And whoever has worked and sweated all their lives and not eaten the profits of others, today doesn’t have the right to hold on to his possessions.”

“We are constantly writing petitions. We even staged a rally at the Presidential Palace that got us nowhere. All our petitions are initialed by the Municipality and then passed off to the ` ADA, who send us back the same answer with the date changed.” says Nikola Melikyan.

In March of this year ADA General Director Robert Harutyunyan, in response to the numerous petitions of the business owners, stated that the “the land site along the Ajarian-Tzarav Aghbyur Streets has been purchased by the Karanish Company.”

“We met with Deputy Mayor Karen Davtyan, who heads the Municipality’s Architecture & Urban Development Department. He said the news of the auction was placed in some paper or another and on the internet and that Karanish won. I asked if we’re supposed to check the internet every day to see if our property is being sold. He answered, yes; it was your obligation to do so.” recounts Mr. Melikyan and asks with a degree of amazement, “Why? Wasn’t it their duty to take the time and inform us that they are planning to auction off our property?”

What remains answered is where exactly was the tender announcement published, who participated and why was Karanish selected? We haven’t been able to get answers to these questions. The Director of the ADA notes that the Municipality is the authorized body but it hasn’t responded to our written inquiry for two weeks.

Sedrak Baghdasaryan says that, “In Mayoral Decision 1119-A, it is required that the names of those who participated in the tender competition be noted and the reason that they won.”

Through its sources Hetq was able to get a copy of the Decision but it contains nothing about the above points, something that even amazed Karanish Director Suren Gevorgyan. “What do you mean? You read the Mayoral Decision and nothing was written about the results of the tender and how that land passed to its new owner? That can’t be. You haven’t read the Decision have you? Pick it up and take a good hard look. It’s all written down there.” he assured us.

Even the Director of Karanish couldn’t answer our questions. “Without having the documents in my hands I couldn’t tell you on what basis did we win the tender, when did it take place or who else participated.” stated Mr. Gevorgyan who noted that those details are in the possession of the company’s founders. “I can’t tell you who they are because I don’t know myself. I’m only the Managing Director responsible for overseeing the proper operation of the company. I get paid a salary and do my job.” Mr. Gevorgyan didn’t even know when the company was founded or what it was engaged in. “When I got here the company already existed.” was his reply.

In reality, according to information at the State Registry, Karanish was founded in 2003 and the only registered founder is none other than Suren Gevorgyan himself. It is possible that he isn’t even aware that the company was registered in his name. But he also concealed from us the fact that he is an employee of the Yerevan Municipality. “I have absolutely no connection to the Municipality other than being a resident of Yerevan.” claimed Gevorgyan, the Chief Engineer of “YervanTrans”, a Municipal CJSC.

ADA General Director Robert Harutyunyan told Hetq, “Public type buildings will go up on that site, most likely a trade center.”

“That’s the state interest? Had it been a military project or the laying of a gas pipeline we would have given the land for free; but a trade center? We could have built one of those. Just let them give us the plans and set a deadline for construction. If we don’t build the thing then they can take the land.” says business owner H. Vardanyan. “The price of that piece of land has appreciated several times in these past two years. If they really serious about building something there they would have resolved the compensation matter on time. But they have no intention of paying any money. They’re just waiting for the right moment to roll in the tractors and push us out; the traditional way of dealing with problems in our country. No matter, even if there were more of them, they won’t get their hands on that land.”

The business owners note that they’ve uncovered the fact that the real owners of the land are Yerevan Mayor Yervand Zakharyan and Deputy Mayor Karen Davtyan. At one time Mr. Davtyan was the Director of the Armenian Development Agency and successfully executed the eviction of residents on Northern Avenue.