According to Gagik Yeganyan, the head of the Department of Migration and Refugees of the Government of Armenia, there are 311,000 refugees in Armenia. The following stories are two among hundreds of thousands of others - the stories of the Martirosyan and Babadjanov families. These two families, who miraculously escaped the anti-Armenian massacres in Baku 1989-1990, settled in the same Yerevan apartment building - #8 Moskovyan Street. This building is known to residents of the Kentron District and patrons of Paplavok and other cafés in the neighborhood as the White Building.

The Martirosyan family tragedy

When Mushegh Martirosyan, a disabled World War II veteran, his wife, Araksia Karapetyan, a second-degree invalid, and their son Suren Martirosyan were expelled from Azerbaijan in 1990, they moved to Yerevan and settled in Apartment #20, 8 Moskovyan St., which belonged to a relative, Shushanik Mikayelyan.

When Shushanik Mikayelyan died, the Miasnikyan District Council asked the court to evict the family from the apartment. On October 4, 1996 the Miasnikyan District Court, Judge Avetisyan presiding, ruled "to dismiss the suit brought by the former Miasnikyan District Council of Yerevan, and to allow respondents Mushegh Martirosyan, Araksia Karapetyan and Suren Martirosyan to reside in Apartment # 20, at 8 Moskovyan Street ."

Taking into consideration the court decision, former Yerevan Mayor Vano Siradegyan signed Decision #1201 on October 20, 1997 , which finalized the solution of the Martirosyan family's housing question, and included the orders:

1. To comply with the applicant's request and to recognize three persons of the Martirosyan family (himself, his wife, and his son) as the tenants of Apartment # 20 , 8 Moskovyan Street.
2. To instruct the Kentron District Administration (A. Zurabyan) to provide the family with an appropriate tenant's certificate for three persons in the name of M. Martirosyan.
3. In accordance with this decision, to guarantee the Martirosyan family members' right to registration at their place of residence.
4. To make the department of land, property and cadastre of the Mayor's Office (V. Harutiunyan) and the Kentron District Administration (A. Zurabyan) responsible for the implementation of this decision.

With the help of these legal documents, the refugee family acquired the right of legitimate residence in Apartment 20 , 8 Moskovyan Street , and were recognized as the tenants. But fate had worse things in store for the persecuted family, this time after Araksia Karapetyan died. The following is a quote from Mushegh Martirosyan's appeal to the Court of First Instance of the Kentron and Nork Marash Communities, a copy of which we received from the Sakharov Center for Protection of Human Rights: "A few days after the death of my wife, Araksia Karapetyan, on June 1, 2000, officers from the Kentron District Police Department, without any reason, forcibly took my son, Suren Martirosyan, who was shopping, to the police station, where an ambulance was already waiting. Suren was transported to the Avan Arindj Mental Clinic and later (on June 27, 2000) to the Vardenis Mental Hospital . On October 10, 2000 , my son was again transferred, this time to the Sevan Mental Hospital , and soon after was discharged from the hospital with a certificate of health stating that 'the patient's condition has improved and there is no need for in-patient treatment.' During the same period of time, my neighbor from Apartment 19 , Jemma Gerasimyan, taking advantage of my being blind, tricked me into going to a home for the elderly. Some time later, with the help of nice people, I left the home for the elderly, underwent surgery free of charge and recovered my vision. Then I found my son."

When they reunited, the father and the son decided to return to their home at 8 Moscovyan Street . But when they arrived, they found that a wall had been erected in place of their front door. Jemma Gerasimyan, who had set her sights on the neighboring apartment long before, her husband Levon Peshtmaljyan, and their daughter and son-in-law had pulled down the wall between Apartments 19 and 20 and bricked up the Martirosyan's door.

In a letter addressed to then Kentron District Mayor Ararat Zurabyan, the former head of the 8 Moscovyan condominium, Levon Shaldjyan, states: "The board of the 8 Moscovyan condominium, aware that the apartment is vacant, requests that the Office of the Mayor of the Kentron District to allocate Apartment # 20, 8 Moscovyan Street (20.7 square meters) under its administration to Jemma Gerasimyan."

Ironically, Jemma Gerasimyan, who seized the only shelter of the deportees, came to live in the building herself as part of a family of internees. In the same stairwell, she has a one-room apartment (# 19) where her daughter's family lives, and another two-room apartment (# 21) where she resides with her husband.

The refugees could never go back into the apartment they had been registered in (they had the passport stamps, or propiska, as well). Mushegh Martirosyan died soon after in the home for the elderly, and his son Suren moved into an outdoor dwelling - the gazebo in the backyard. Eyewitnesses say that Suren would keep repeating, "I live here, I won't go anywhere." But the people who threw him out were too many - the head of the condominium, the "new owners" of the apartment. There were also many people who sympathized with him, who gave the former military submarine officer food and money. He used to help the backyard kids with their math homework. Eventually Jemma Gerasimyan and her husband's friend, Levon Shaljyan, made good on their threats to expel Suren from the backyard. This time the exiled homeless man settled in the park near the popular Aragast Café, where he was found dead one day.

To be continued.