The 'AOKS' Building is Being Returned to the Republic of Armenia

The ownership rights of the building known as 'AOKS', located at Abovyan Street 3, will be transferred back to the Republic of Armenia. This information comes from the Office of the General Prosecutor.

“The General Prosecutor's Office, as part of its authority to defend state interests, filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court on November 18, 2022, aiming to return the building (known to the public as the 'AOKS' building) at Abovyan Street 3, which is included in the state registry of immovable cultural monuments of Armenia. The basis for the lawsuit was the fact that by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic dated November 24, 1955, property, including the building at Abovyan Street 3, was transferred to the balance of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, known as 'AOKS'.

Later, on July 30, 1992, the 'Armenian Company for Cultural Relations and Cooperation with Foreign Countries' was established, which unlawfully presented itself as the legal successor to the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries and, in 2001, based on the aforementioned decree adopted around 37 years earlier, received a certificate of property rights registration for the 'AOKS' building.

Said the General Prosecutor's Office demanded the Administrative Court to invalidate the state registrations of the ownership rights made by the Armenian Company for Cultural Relations and Cooperation with Foreign Countries on July 3, 2001, and by 'AOKS' LLC on November 25, 2011, based on the aforementioned reasons. The application was registered with the Administrative Court on November 22, 2022.

On September 8, 2023, a settlement agreement was reached between the Office of the General Prosecutor of the Republic of Armenia and the owners of the 'AOKS' building. The agreement was submitted to the Administrative Court on the same day. Following the court's confirmation of the settlement agreement, the ownership rights of the building, which has an area of 526.9 square meters and a plot of land of 0.0467 hectares located at Abovyan Street 3, will be transferred to the Republic of Armenia.

It should be noted that the investigation into the illegal privatization of cultural heritage sites belonging to the Republic of Armenia continues in the investigative department of the National Security Service,” the statement reads.

In 2001, the building of 'AOKS' located in the center of Yerevan was privatized under the decree of Anton Kochinyan from 1955. It is one of the oldest buildings in the capital. The 'AOKS' building is a state monument. Notably, this state monument was privatized back in 2001 by Armen Smbatyan, the advisor to the President of Armenia on international cultural-humanitarian cooperation, and the Minister of Culture Hasmik Poghosyan.