Land Will No Longer Be Granted to the Mother See Without a Fee, National Assembly Confirms

The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin will no longer be granted land under full ownership without payment, but will be provided only with the right of gratuitous use. The National Assembly adopted, in the second reading and in full, the draft law on amendments to the RA Land Code presented by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.

"The necessity for adopting the draft is conditioned by the review of the regulation established by part 1.2 of Article 64 of the RA Land Code, in order to grant the relevant land plots for gratuitous use instead of granting them under ownership. Taking into account that Article 64 of the RA Land Code pertains to the provision of state and community-owned land plots for gratuitous ownership, and point 2.1 of part 1 of Article 75 of the Code already stipulates the provision of state and community-owned land plots for gratuitous (permanent) use to the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church (Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin) without a competition, it is therefore proposed to declare void part 1.2 of Article 64 of the Land Code of the Republic of Armenia dated May 2, 2001," the draft law states.