The Armenian government has announced the launch of a large-scale campaign to clear public spaces of illegal commercial structures.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan promised to wage an unyielding fight against voluntary constructions throughout the country, making an exception only for residential houses built decades ago.

During the briefing held in the government on October 15, the head of the executive referred to the noisy process of dismantling kiosks in the Ajapnyak administrative district of the capital. He stressed that sidewalks and public parks are the property of all citizens, and the state will no longer tolerate their arbitrary seizure.

“Now I say publicly that we will go and destroy all the places where there is such a problem. Let people think about their future activities from this point,” warned the Prime Minister.

Special attention was paid to the legal side of the problem. According to Pashinyan, the Land Code excludes the possibility of any legal construction in public areas. And if certificates appeared in the hands of the owners of such facilities, then the law enforcement officers should deal with their origin in order to find out who issued these documents and under what conditions within the framework of criminal cases. “Yerevan must be returned to the people of Yerevan,” the head of the government noted.

The authorities are determined to put an end to the vicious practice of holding and bequeathing illegal property.

Denying the accusations of an unfair or selective approach, Pashinyan stated. “What do people think that they will keep illegally acquired property and pass it on from generation to generation?” There will be no such thing, whether it is big or small. And those who say that we behave unfairly, I say again, let them show at least one case when we did not behave in the same way.”

At the same time, the zero-tolerance policy for sidewalk construction will not extend to citizens who have been living in self-built homes for decades.

The government is developing a separate law for the apartments built during the Soviet years in order to legalize them and finally close this social problem. However, the kiosks placed on the sidewalks and the capital buildings erected in their place will be demolished indiscriminately not only in the capital, but also in all settlements of Armenia.