FAMILY IN ARMENIA ASKS TURKEY FOR ASSYLUM
Ararat Davtyan
hetq
11:40, June 16, 2011
Mariam Gishyan, a mother of five living in Armenia, has asked the
Turkish government to grant her refugee status.
Mrs. Gishyan has also written to RA President Serzh Sargsyan,
requesting that that since she cannot pay OVIR (Office of Visas and
Registration) the required documentation fees, her family be stripped
of Armenian citizenship.
“Since I and my family have been subjected to a white genocide,
deprived of a house; living wage and human rights, I will not allow
my boys to serve in the army of an immoral nation,” Mrs. Gishyan
wrote to President Sargsyan.
She also noted in her letter that because she has no home address
she would come to the presidential office to receive a reply.
“There are many who criticize what I am doing but what can I do. How
long can we go on living on the streets? My kids have been going to
school for eight months whilst living on the streets. We’ve lived
all over the place, even in Lovers’ Park across from the presidential
palace. I tried to rent an apartment but they kicked us out because
I was late in paying the rent,” said Mrs. Gishyan.
Her five children, all adults, do not work since they have no
passports. The three boys haven’t been conscripted into the army
because of it.
“They told me at the draft board that the boys can be conscripted based
on the old address. But I said that OVIR won’t issue us passports on
our former address, so how can the draft board register them?” she
asks.
The family used to reside at 30 Lalayants Street, in a six room
apartment, but was forcibly evicted by the courts to make way for
construction on Northern Boulevard back in 2003. The court told them
they would be getting a four room apartment in compensation.
“The contract stipulated that a new home be found before the eviction
notice went into effect but just the opposite occurred,” claims Sedrak
Baghdasaryan who heads an NGO that works to protect the rights of
families evicted due to eminent domain.
Karen Davtyan, now a Deputy Director at the Real Estate Cadastre,
headed the Project Implementation Office (PIO) at the time of the
eviction. The PIO served as the oversight body for the Northern Avenue
construction operation.
In response to several complaints lodged by the Gishyan family, in
November, 2004, a year after the eviction, Mr Davtyan replied that
the court, in its decision, had stipulated that the family would be
paid $20, 805 in compensation.
Mr. Baghdasaryan says in response that, “Karen Davtyan is the world’s
biggest liar and that no such monetary award was listed in the court
decision.”
Levon Hakobyan, who now heads the PIO, has written to the Gishyan’s
telling them that the amount in question was deposited into the
account of the Compulsory Enforcement Service of Judicial Acts (CES).
This Armenian institution acts in the capacity of court bailiffs. Not
surprisingly, CES employees were the ones who evicted the family in
the first place and before they had found temporary housing.
Where did the money go? If the Gishyan’s never received a dime in
compensation it’s not out of the realm of possibility to assume that
the CES pocketed the money.
Mr. Baghdasaryan, our intrepid legal rights defender, wrote to the CES
and the Yerevan Municipality to get to the bottom of the mystery. His
efforts have been fruitless. It seems that the paperwork has been
destroyed.
He then asked the Yerevan Municipality to provide information regarding
the original $20,085 in compensation ~V precisely who evaluated the
family’s real estate and who is supposed to have deposited the money
in the CES account.
Mr. Baghdasaryan is still waiting for an answer. In the meantime, he’s
taken the matter to the courts where the case has been languishing
for six months.
Only two trial sessions have actually been convened during this time.
Mariam Gishyan says she has lost all faith in the system.
“I applied to all the foreign embassies in Armenia a few years ago but
was rejected. Now, I’ve applied to Turkey to get my revenge,” she says.
Mrs. Gishyan has been to Turkey twice and claims to have met with
government officials regarding her case.
“I met with a minister but I don’t want to identify him right now. He
said that all would be taken care of and that they’d give my kids an
education and work.”
Mrs. Gishyan says she plans to return to Turkey in a few days to
complete the paperwork involved.
“I had to return suddenly because the children had fallen ill. To be
honest, I also wanted to give the Armenian government one last chance
to make things right but, after all this, I realize they aren’t human
and never will be.”
Aida Asatryan, Head of the Desk for Reception of Citizens,
Proposals, Appeals and Claims at the Presidential Oversight Service,
in response to Mariam Gishyan’s request that the family be deprived
of RA citizenship, wrote that, “A resolution of the issue you raised
is being processed according to RA legal procedure.”
When we asked Mrs. Asatryan to explain what this means, she refused.
“I have nothing to add,” she curtly replied.
From: A. Papazian