It Turns Out the Sheikh Was Not Really a Sheikh: City Hall Clarification

Yerevan Mayor's spokesperson Hakob Karapetyan discussed in detail the ongoing remote debate between Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan and the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan, during a meeting with journalists today. Speaking about the claim that Abu Dhabi sheikhs had abandoned their plans for investments in Yerevan due to disappointment with the mayor, Karapetyan noted, “When that statement was made yesterday, we followed up on it to try to understand what it was about and clarified several details of the meeting. I even thought that perhaps Mr. Tsarukyan was not well-informed, so I alerted my colleagues that they may not have been briefed, and to halt the information campaign, I provided them with details about the circumstances. In any case, what happened afterward was quite touching when it turned out that the sheikh was not actually a sheikh, meaning that not a crown prince but rather his representative had attended the meeting, along with other circumstances.”

Karapetyan also addressed the illegal construction taking place at Abovyan 5, which, according to him, was being carried out by the “Multi Group” company, a connection that Gagik Tsarukyan does not deny. The spokesperson specified that the illegal construction was happening in front of the “Moscow Cinema,” right next to the Stanislavski Theater. “Today, Mr. Tsarukyan made a brilliant new statement, saying that Mayor Hayk Marutyan had given him permission. Let me clarify: we are talking about two types of permits – design permission and construction permit. Design permission is the agreement of the city authorities to allow construction on a specific site, and the construction permit grants the developer the right to begin construction work,” he said.

Regarding the statement that the construction permit was issued not by Hayk Marutyan but by Narek Sargsyan, Karapetyan responded that the construction permit can only be issued by the community leader, emphasizing that there has been no mayor named Narek Sargsyan; we have had a mayor named Taron Margaryan. According to the spokesperson, the former mayor issued the construction permit on February 16, 2018, and no further permits have been granted since. Three days later, the administrative court accepted a citizen's lawsuit against “Multi Group,” and from the moment the case was accepted, the construction permit was suspended.

“This means that three days later, there was no lawful opportunity to proceed with construction. However, our esteemed developers, like any 'shrewd guys', attempted to circumvent the rules and the law and proceeded with construction, particularly in June and July, when it was understood that the situation was confused; this construction was intensively underway,” he noted. Karapetyan emphasized that the city hall has no issues related to Gagik Tsarukyan or associated individuals. Speaking on the topic of the sheikhs being 'offended', the spokesperson remarked, “It is not serious to claim that individuals investing such large amounts of money are so touchy that they would refuse to invest just because they were politely told that there is no need to speak on the phone so much. In the Republic of Armenia, the laws and regulations of the Republic of Armenia are in effect, and they must be respected, along with state institutions. The remarks were milder relative to the behavior but noted that we are ready to consider the proposals.”