By Arpi Harutyunyan

ArmeniaNow reporter

Several days ago Susanna Nersisyan, 47, came to her garden which she has
cherished for years and was horrified to see that trees on the lot had been
destroyed by an unknown buyer.

“Someone from my neighbors called me saying someone has started construction
work. They had done their black work before we could get there. Trees were taken
off with roots left under the soil. It is a crime, nothing less. I can’t
recover. 20 fruit trees, vines, water pipeline… everything was left under the
soil,” says Susanna, who learnt only then the buyers of the territory were
“Hyeenergashin” (Armenian Energy Construction) and Neo Building companies; the
latter plans to build a residential house on the site.

Susanna is one of the 57 people who having signed a contract with the Shahumyan
district council in 1991 rented some areas in the renowned Dalma Gardens, near
the center of Yerevan, for growing fruits and vegetables. And the lands they
cultivated are not theirs for use any more.

The people who carefully cultivated the Dalma Gardens for more than 10 years
were surprised in 2004 to learn their lands have other owners, and they could
not demand anything in return from them, because the deal was made by the
municipality, and it’s the latter who hold the responsibility for it.

“Early in 2003 when the cadastre price per one square meter of land cost $2, I
addressed the municipality to give me opportunity to buy the territory based on
the right of preference of purchasing and by force of ownership prescription,”
Nersisyan says. (According to the RA Land Code citizens and legal bodies, who
use the state or community land continuously, diligently and openly for more
than ten years, entertain a preference right to purchase land lots in those
areas as a property). However, I received a response that the territory has a
historic and cultural value and couldn’t be put to auction”.

The area is in fact considered a historic and cultural zone that was included in
the list of natural monuments drawn by the Academy of Sciences in 1985.

“About 400 wine jars of 800-1,000 liter storage capacity about 3,000 years old
as well as rock carved tunnels were discovered during excavations in the last
century,” says the chairman of the Greens’ Union Hakob Sanasaryan adding about 6
oak trees of 500 year old have been kept there; he says also the cave in the
neighborhood has been a worship site for Goddess Anahit, the historical and
mythological sources show.

But in 2004, the Government of Armenia amended the zoning law and made Dalma
liable for development.

As a result, the municipality organized auctions without informing the renters.
“I learnt in 2004 my territory was sold at an auction. I appealed to the court,
which set a ban on my lot; however, the court case was not closed. I have
appealed to the municipality after that for a thousand of times, but again they
did not say anything,” says Nersisyan. “In 2006 I learned that my lot was
resold. I appealed to the municipality again, which officially responded only in
the end of 2007 that the area has been sold at auction and has passed from one
owner to another within the course of time.”

(The Land Code stipulates also all the contracts signed before 1999 are in legal
force, are not subject to re-registration and serve as grounds for real estate
deals. According to another provision the responsible body has no right to make
a deal of land alienation when the case is in the court.)

Yntsa Minasyan, 53, also fell victim to the same action by the municipality,
whose 1,200 square meter rental property was sold to Hyerusgasard
(Armenian-Russian Gas Industry). The latter offers $13,000 as compensation, but
Minasyan wants his land. The estimated real value of the lot is $63,000. In the
recent years the cadastre price for a square meter of land has grown from $2-3
to $50 – about 20 times.

“I don’t value my lot at any price, you see. I have the right to demand to have
it returned to me, because I have appealed to the municipality before the end of
its rental period and have been ready to pay the defined price to privatize it
but have been refused,” says Minasyan.

Gagik Mazmanyan, head of the department for real estate management at the
Yerevan municipality, however, says neglecting the abovementioned facts, “the
documents provided by the legislation to prove the right over the land lots have
not been submitted to state registration before making the proper governmental
decision, which resulted in their nullification.”

The renters consider themselves victims of the land deal and have appealed to
the Ombudsman’s Office, community administration, municipality, National
Assembly, government, to the president and the prime minister in person.

In response to the appeals Ombudsman Armen Harutyunyan has mentioned the appeal
corresponds to the RA Law on Human Rights and is under consideration.

Attorney and MP Zaruhi Postanjyan has confirmed rights have been broken and
offers appealing to court instances.

The municipality has mentioned a task group has been formed in this regard
regularly meeting with already former land users discussing each of the cases.
As a result the group is expected to summarize the discussions and submit
recommendations.

The gardeners, however, are confident everything is decided and over.