Privatization 'at the price of water' or market value: Sukiasyan's spokesperson responds to Hetq article

On December 23, the magazine "Hetq" published an article stating that Albert Sukiasyan, founder of the "Sil Concerns," privatized a property from the Yerevan City Hall 'at the price of water' for $5,655, which, however, did not serve its intended purpose.

In a conversation with Auroranews, Anna Mkrtchyan, spokesperson for Khachatur Sukiasyan, characterized the news as manipulative and a further attempt to target the Sukiasyan family. She stated that the Sukiasyans only privatized a part of the bookstore at market value for $5,655; the other four buildings were purchased from their owners.

“The Sukiasyans provided apartments to all four owners of those buildings. I should emphasize that, apart from the $5,655, money was also paid for the citizens’ homes. There is no mention of this in the article; instead, it is stated that it was not possible to privatize the area with such pocket change. I am confident that the public remembers very well that at that time, $5,655 was not pocket change, and with that money, one could buy several apartments in central Yerevan,” she said. “In post-war Armenia, when no one wanted to invest in the country, the Sukiasyans invested over a million dollars and created beautiful architectural buildings from the ruins.”

The spokesperson noted that this area was considered a public restroom, and during the construction, tons of garbage were removed. As for the non-use for its intended purpose, she added that in the initial period of the building's operation, exhibitions of artists' canvases were organized, but after some time, when it did not justify its purpose, it was used for other purposes.

In a photo provided by Anna Mkrtchyan, the building of “Sil Plaza” is shown in its condition at the time of acquisition.

Below is the full article from Hetq.am.

In the late 1870s-1880s, a one-story tuff structure was constructed by Sofi Melik-Ohanjanyan at 3 Arami Street. According to information received from the Yerevan History Museum, at 3 Arami St. were located the home and shops of Sofi Melik-Ohanjanyan. During the Soviet years, a bookstore operated there. We could not find photographs of the building from the 19th century, except for this one. In the center and right side of the provided photo, the construction of the "Children’s World" department store can be seen, while on the left side is Melik-Ohanjanyan's house. Photo from the Yerevan History Museum ("Children's World" department store was built in 1935).

Architect Vahagn Asatryan, narrating about the building constructed by Sofi Melik-Ohanjanyan in "Yerevan" magazine in 2020, noted that the bookstore located at the intersection of Arami and Abovyan streets was an inconspicuous structure from the outside during the Soviet years. "I was offered a project for interior decoration and renovation. During the initial measurements, it became clear that the building was made of black tuff and had previously had large openings characteristic of retail passages. During the Soviet years, the openings were closed and reduced, and the stone walls were covered with plaster to create a bookcase inside. I suggested restoring its former appearance in addition to the major renovation by removing the plaster. But the state funding for the bookstore was cut, and the project was not realized," the architect noted.

Privatization with conditions

When Vahagn Khachatryan, now the Minister of High-Tech Industry, was president of the executive committee of the Yerevan City Council (1992-1996), the process of privatization for the building at 3 Arami St. and the area at 5 Arami St. began. Initially, in 1993, the executive committee transferred the bookstore building to the Martiros Saryan House-Museum with the right of permanent use, to reconstruct it and use it as a gallery for Armenian artists’ works.

On May 25, 1994, the management of the Martiros Saryan House-Museum requested the executive committee to take back the bookstore building, as they could not afford to reconstruct it due to financial constraints. At the same time, the executive committee received a request from the "Astghik-1" production cooperative, which expressed a desire to reconstruct the building. The head of the cooperative, established in 1994, was Khachatur Sukiasyan's father, Albert Sukiasyan. Khachatur Sukiasyan was the head of the Economic Relations Division of Armenia’s Ministry of Industry from 1992-1994 and later an advisor to the minister.

In May 1994, the executive committee of the Yerevan City Council repealed the previous decision and allocated the bookstore building to "Astghik-1" cooperative for reconstruction, to be used as a contemporary auction center for artists’ works and office space. The same decision confirmed the contract to allocate the property for permanent use. The contract amount was set at 5,655 US dollars equivalent.

According to this contract, the "Astghik-1" cooperative was granted permanent use rights for the 0.0377 ha lot as allocated by the aforementioned decision of the executive committee, which would be used for the construction of a