VIDEO: Calls Spread on TikTok Leading People to Occupy Former Ministry of Defense Building, Says State Revenue Committee Employee

Recently, actions taken by the police to evict several families living in the former Ministry of Defense building sparked widespread public discussion. Citizens claimed that they had been living there for a long time and had no other place to go, asking for permission to live in the building indefinitely.

However, the building had been removed from the Ministry of Defense's balance sheet by a government decision since May of last year and transferred to the State Revenue Committee. The SRC was also tasked with conducting a technical examination of the property. According to the government’s decision, construction work is to be carried out in the area.

“After the completion of the construction works specified in the first point of this decision on the property, but no later than May 1, 2027, ensure the implementation of the handover-acceptance works of the immovable property specified in the annex to this decision,” reads the respective government decision.

As Gevorg Azizyan, Deputy Chief of the Public Order Protection Division of the RA Police, informed journalists, they received a letter from the SRC back in August of last year stating that there were illegally occupied individuals in the building under their balance, and the police had repeatedly warned those living in the building to vacate the illegally occupied area.

“We removed the occupation; people were warned, a deadline was given in August to leave the area, and then a deadline was set for January. The deadline ended on February 12. They were repeatedly warned that they were illegally occupying the area,” said Gevorg Azizyan.

The RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs also issued a statement indicating that discussions were ongoing about implementing a rent compensation program to support the housing of citizens meeting the criteria. “Social workers from the Unified Social Service are on site now to assess needs and understand how they can assist, and the needs of those 8 families have been evaluated and support has been offered based on necessity,” the spokesperson reported.

Today, the residents held another protest, this time near the SRC building. Despite the state promising compensation for housing rents ranging from 70,000 to 120,000 AMD, the residents insist that such amounts are insufficient to rent a home.

How and when did these families move into the former Ministry of Defense building? SRC employee Gor Gevorgyan made a post on his Facebook page regarding the topic.

“Much of the information presented and delivered online regarding these events is significantly distorted and has no relevance to reality. As someone directly involved with the issue, I must not passively overlook this falsity. The handover-acceptance process of the aforementioned property between the relevant employees of the SRC and the Ministry of Defense took place in June 2022 based on a government decision, after which the building with its adjacent facilities and a plot of land of 193,619 square meters were secured by the SRC.

The SRC plans to construct a center for external economic activities in that area, as well as a new administrative building where all SRC subdivisions will be located. The EEA center will represent a state-of-the-art structure where customs functions will be carried out in a significantly simplified regime, and not only customs. I would like to note that there are already 8 EEA centers in Georgia and have been for a long time. The requirement for an EEA center is currently a necessary part for the economy.

Regarding the new SRC administrative building, I report that a part of the SRC subdivisions is currently located in a building at 3, 7 Khorenatsi Street in Yerevan, while other subdivisions are located in different administrative districts of Yerevan, including Erebuni, Arabkir, Malatia-Sebastia, Ajapnyak, Kanaker-Zeytun, and others. Moreover, many of those buildings located in administrative districts belong to the SRC on a rental basis, and for the state’s rented building on Isakov Avenue, the government pays 125 million AMD annually. Beyond the financial inefficiency, being located in different buildings presents additional organizational work obstacles for the subdivisions.

Now in more detail: on February 16 of this year, the police forces of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs removed the families residing in the former Ministry of Defense building. Most families stated in front of the cameras that they had lived there for many years—over 3 years or 5 years. But the reality is as follows: “When the property was finally secured to the SRC, numerous SRC employees visited the building and recorded that the building was in a state of disrepair, plundered, and in many parts, demolished. At that time, no family was present in that area; there were only a few young people who claimed to ‘own’ the place and said they were the owners. But I repeat, there were no families, women, or children in the building, and many dramatic articles in the media are merely fictitious, fabricated, and false materials.

A part of the area was used by these young people as a workshop for repairing household appliances, a place for keeping various pets, and so on. Then in the autumn of 2022, various video messages appeared on Telegram, TikTok, and other platforms calling out to those without housing to come and occupy the former Ministry of Defense building. One of the video’s authors claimed that the area is owned by their brother, and they are helping everyone. The news spread through the internet so quickly that even SRC employees received calls from acquaintances verifying whether it was true that the SRC was providing housing to the homeless. The regrettable part is that not a single media outlet mentioned those videos but immediately stated clearly that families had already been living in that building for several years. After that, the police repeatedly demanded they vacate the area, but residents did not leave, and on February 16, the police forces removed the inhabitants from the area in great numbers.

Do not get the impression that I or other SRC employees want these people to remain outside, especially when we see small children on site. God forbid, may no family in Armenia have a housing issue. By the way, families were offered housing options by the employees of the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, but some families refused.

The SRC is taking this difficult step solely for the benefit of the Republic of Armenia. Citizens must realize that the state simply cannot tolerate the fact that 300 people occupy a territory of 193,000 square meters. By the way, let me add that before acquiring the Ministry of Defense building, the SRC considered other areas belonging to various individuals during the first quarter of 2022. In the current market price conditions, such large territories near Yerevan would have cost the state around 5-6 million USD, and in that case, surely a wide section of the public and especially several media outlets would have been yelling that there are plenty of state buildings. Why are you spending 6 million dollars at the expense of taxpayers? They would blame that it was done intentionally to engage in corruption, to buy the lands of their acquaintances at high prices and then take a commission, etc.

From all this, it should be concluded that the SRC is taking this step simply because it cannot acquire several million worth of land plots instead of purposefully utilizing its own territories. Therefore, before making any comments regarding this topic, all elements must be considered, and only then should dramatization be added.

Finally, I want to inform that the SRC will do the impossible to ensure that both the EEA center and the SRC administrative building are constructed with cutting-edge architectural designs and will do everything to ensure that these structures become some of the most beautiful buildings in the republic. Moreover, the implementation of the aforementioned project will bring economic activity to the Kotayk region, particularly to Proshyan and Kasakh villages, as we currently see similar activity in Gyumri following the construction of the auto customs office. I recalled how the SRC was also criticized for relocating the customs office from Noragavit to Gyumri.

P.S. The text above is exclusively my opinion, my analysis, and based on the information obtained from my own sources. I kindly ask you to examine the pictures of the building in detail, especially the first photo, which is marked with a red frame.

The photos were taken by SRC employees at the moment of the handover-acceptance of the property,” wrote Gor Gevorgyan.