“A1+” TV company, “Garun” and “Aghbyur” magazines are faced with the danger
of being evicted from one of the Yerevan buildings, where the editorial offices
of these media have been located for many years already. As YPC was told by
the Director of “A1+” Mesrop Movsesian, the RA National Academy of Sciences
several times throughout the year demanded to vacate the premises used to locate
there the institutes and organizations of the Academy. The head of “A1+” thinks
the demand to be illegitimate and the pretext – invented. As Mesrop Movsesian
noted, this can be confirmed by the eviction of “National Self-Determination”
Union in 2003, however to this day the premises vacated have not been allocated
to the NAS organizations in question. “A1+” itself has been renting the office
since 1992 and, according to Mesrop Movsesian, the Academy of Sciences for over
ten years remained impartial to the fate of the building. All that time “A1+”,
similarly to other tenants, paid salaries to the maintaining staff, took care
of the building facilities. Moreover, the building itself, as Mesrop Movsesian
states, is owned by the RA Government and was transferred to the balance of
the NAS for use. The litigation instituted in mid-2004 by the National Academy
of Sciences against the Armenian Culture Foundation with a demand to vacate
the premises used in the same building ended in favor of the Academy.
Despite the precedent mentioned above, the media do not intend to give in,
Mesrop Movsesian stressed. On December 6 “A1+”, “Garun”, “Aghbyur” and the Armenian
Culture Foundation addressed the Government to allow them privatizing the premises
taken. No response has been made to the request yet.
