Protests Erupt Over Month-Long Delay in Auctions in Armenia

The ‘Hraparak’ newspaper has gone on holiday, disrupting the auction process in the country. A concerned citizen reported to Auroranews.am, stating, “I am waiting for the auction of a communal land plot, but I'm being told that technically no auctions can take place because the ‘Hayastani Hanrapetutyun’ newspaper has gone on vacation with its entire staff.”

“It is unacceptable for a newspaper, which has been exclusively granted the right to publish announcements about auctions, to close its doors entirely and take a holiday. People are left waiting for their return to work. Do you understand? The entire staff is on holiday, and there’s no shift set up. Because of their negligence and the government’s inconsistent attitude, for an entire month, no auctions can be held in the country. What is painful is that the government has granted the newspaper a monopoly position but doesn’t even monitor how they are performing their duties,” the citizen remarked.

Auroranews.am followed up on the citizen's report and contacted the head of the newspaper's advertising department, who was the only one to respond to our calls. The employee confirmed that the entire staff is on vacation in August and will only return in September.

The connection between the ‘Hayastani Hanrapetutyun’ newspaper and state and community land auctions is established by the government decision No. 286, dated April 12, 2001, which set mandatory requirements for publishing announcements regarding the auction of state and community-owned land plots. A change was made to the government order No. 1181-N, dated July 22, 2021, which stipulated that announcements of the auctioning of state and community land plots must be published in the ‘Hayastani Hanrapetutyun’ newspaper, on the official site for public notifications www.azdarar.am, on the official website of the regional governor’s office, and, where available, on the official website of the community.

The essence of this regulation was justified on the basis that a significant part of the population in both Yerevan and other communities in Armenia still does not have the opportunity to access the official online notification sites and lack computer capabilities. The publication of land plot announcements in the ‘Hayastani Hanrapetutyun’ newspaper was meant to further enhance public awareness. It appears, however, that for an entire month, the newspaper is not only preventing those without internet access and relying solely on traditional newspapers from receiving information but is also impeding the conduct of competitions and auctions altogether.

Why can’t state and community land auctions and rental competitions be held without the ‘Hayastani Hanrapetutyun’ newspaper? Article 16 of the Law on Regulatory Legal Acts stipulates specific linkages and word usages defined in the regulatory legal act. It states that the presence of all the conditions listed for the application of the norm is mandatory, if the application of the norm as specified in the legal act is conditioned by commas and linkers like 'and' or 'or.' Thus, it is obligatory for the announcements about auctions or competitions to be made both in the ‘Hraparak’ newspaper and on the azdarar.am website. This means that no auction can take place without being published in the newspaper, making all auctions and competitions unlawful, as access to information for certain segments of the society has not been ensured.

Auroranews.am also contacted the head of the Government’s Information and Public Relations Department, Armen Khachatryan, and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Taron Chakhoyan. They expressed surprise that such a thing is happening; however, it became clear from our further conversation with Taron Chakhoyan that the government does not intend to take any action this year to rectify the situation and will seek to address it differently next year.

It is worth noting that today is only August 12, and government officials, aware that the interests of citizens are being trampled this way, had the opportunity to intervene, address the issue, and make an urgent decision as no auction will be possible nationwide for an entire month. However, we have what we have. Also, previously, any announcement regarding an auction could be published in all newspapers published in Armenia that had at least 3000 copies.