Residents of Old Northern Avenue Buildings to Protest Continued Eviction Methods

15 residents of the buildings at 23, 25 Teryan Str. and 37 Lalayants Str. have received letters stating that they cannot sell their apartments to anyone except for the Local Developers Company. Epress.am spoke to Mer Kaghake (Our City) initiative member and Teryan 23 resident Vardan Geravetyan (pictured) who noted that the residents were not content with that option. The company offers them either 2 ½ times lower than the market value for their apartments, or apartments in a newly constructed building nearby. Geravetyan stressed that they were not happy with the second offer wither because the conditions in the said building are insufficient.

By the RA government’s decree from 2002, the buildings at 23, 25 Teryan Str. and 37 Lalayants Str. were announced eminent domain, and Local Developers received the rights to construction on that site.

In 2007, the residents began to fight for their private property. Initially, they demanded that the developers construct a facade that would correspond with that of the newly built buildings. However, in August 29, 2013, the government decided to engage the buildings in a sales process for the fourth time, which would put the deadline at June 1, 2015.

According to Vardan Geravetyan, Local Developers Company owner Samvel Mayrapetyan, who is a close associate of the RA second president Robert Kocharyan, has appealed to the court, demanding the eviction of the residents.

Geravetyan noted that they have started a new wave of protests in order to prevent the eviction. Tomorrow a protest will take place in front of the court building. The residents have also prepared letters presenting their demands, which they will send to NA factions.

The latter buildings are among the last old structures of Northern Avenue. Under Robert Kocharyan’s presidency the whole territory was announced eminent domain and a large portion of former residents were evicted from their homes by force. They refused to leave their homes due to their dissatisfaction with the level of compensation they were offered, which was a few times lower than market value.