Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

[TomServo]

Re: Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

"Counterdemonstration."

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

Activists Stage Protest Over Redesigned Yerevan Market Amid Counterdemonstration
Hovannes Movsisian
09.10.2013

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/25132059.html

Civil activists in Yerevan have vowed to continue their street protests against what they view as an illegal redevelopment of a landmark building in the Armenian capital despite facing a counterdemonstration staged by people claiming to be beneficiaries of the project on Wednesday.

Scores of protesters campaigning for the preservation of architectural monuments in Armenia marched to the indoor market in central Mashtots Boulevard that reopened earlier this week after a controversial renovation carried out by its new owner.

Built in the 1950s, the agricultural market known locally as Pak Shuka has for decades been one of the city’s major landmarks and is on the Armenian Culture Ministry’s list of historical buildings that cannot be redesigned without government permission.

Samvel Aleksanian, a government-linked tycoon who controls lucrative imports of basic foodstuffs to Armenia, secured no such authorization when he began demolishing the building’s arched roof in May last year shortly after privatizing the property. He claimed that it was in urgent need of renovation.

Now while preserving its frontal design the reconstructed building, besides the traditional agricultural market, also hosts a large food store associated with the Yerevan City supermarket chain owned by Aleksanian.

Aleksanian, who is a member of parliament affiliated with the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, has brushed aside criticism, suggesting that the renovation did not affect the architectural value of the building.

He and his supporters insist that the new facility will provide jobs to citizens as well as good customer service to shoppers in the neighborhood that did not have a proper place for trading in agricultural goods for nearly two years.

Scores of Aleksanian supporters, most of them believed to be employees of businesses owned by the lawmaker’s extended family, again staged a counterdemonstration at the site, urging the protesting civil activists to leave the place and stop their campaign.

Hundreds of them already provided a similar show of support for Aleksanian last month, effectively putting the protesters off for several weeks.

Police officers were deployed on the scene to prevent possible clashes between the two rivaling sides. Deputy chief of Yerevan’s police Valeriy Osipian said the counterdemonstration by Alexanian supporters was a “spontaneous” gathering in response to an “unsanctioned” protest by activists.

The sides exchanged accusations, but the standoff ended without an incident.

“God knows who has bribed these people. But they will understand [that Aleksanian has done a good thing],” said one pro-Aleksanian demonstrator, who claimed that they were there for their jobs, while the agenda of the civil activists was unclear.

But activists said today that they were determined to continue their protests despite meeting resistance. Members of the “Let’s Liberate the Monument from the Oligarch” pressure group repeated their demand that the tycoon restore the indoor market in its original architectural form.

Filmmaker Tigran Khzmalian, who campaigns for the preservation of Pak Shuka in its original form, said that they were ready for continuing to resist what they believe is an illegality.

“This is not just a protest, this is our resistance and we carry out this resistance not only by our physical presence but also by calling on all citizens who have dignity to boycott this unlawful [Yerevan] City [supermarket] that our capital is being turned into,” Khzmalian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Meanwhile, people on the pro-Aleksanian side of the protests said that for two days the influential lawmaker had been distributing bread among people for free. “Why don’t the media mention this? Why don’t they say that philanthropist Aleksanian has given bread to the hungry people?” one woman complained.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

Armenia Can Tap Bonds As Long As Lfik Samo Is There
Hakob Badalyan
07 October 2013

http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/31042

The first tapping of sovereign bonds was a success, and instead of criticizing the failure the opposition is criticizing the success of the government, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated in response to the opponents of sovereign bonds.
The Armenian government considers the first tap to be a success and refers to it as an indicator of confidence of international investors in Armenia.
While foreign investors trust Armenia, Armenia continues to watch the confidence progress of local investors. In particular, Samvel Alexanyan, a.k.a. Lfik Samo, “rents out” a church for his children’s baptism and opens supermarkets. On October 7 his next supermarket is opened in the place of the former Covered Market. Many people are aware of developments relating to the Covered Market. Even Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, having no to-the-point answer to the question of Member of Parliament Nikol Pashinyan, went on to announce that Pashinyan is a populist.
Pashinyan may be a populist but it does not make illegal construction of the Covered Market legal. And the question to Tigran Sargsyan was about this. It is hard to believe that a country where an oligarch is free to take any place and build there a supermarket or a mall without a permit will enjoy the confidence of foreign investors.
Yet this is a paradox. Foreign investors trust the country and buy bonds for several hundreds of dollars. These investors are sure that the Armenian government will violate the rights of its citizens and laws but will repay everything with interests.
Samvel Alexanyan and his Covered Market is just another safeguard. If Armenia finds itself in a difficult situation, Samvel Alexanyan will help regain European confidence and be rewarded with another plot of land and another permit for illegal construction. Everything is crisp and clear, and foreign investors appreciate such clarity and stability. They do not care for the rates of economic development, growth, quality and structure in Armenia. All they care for is whether the Armenian government is able to violate the rights and freedoms of its people and grab from the society whatever it can.
In this regard, Samvel Alexanyan is one of the indicators of confidence in the Armenian government abroad, and as long as his supermarkets move forward, foreign investors will be confident for their money.
Armenian sovereign bonds are Kardashian in name but in nature they are Alexanyan because that is the nature of the Armenian economy

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

Samvel Alexanyan's Nightmare
10 October 2013

http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/country/view/31069

Yesterday the Save the Monument from Oligarch Initiative went on protest in front of the Covered Market. Protests will be held every day. The owner of the market MP Samvel Alexanyan again deployed his supporters who shouted “grant-eaters, Turks” and other phrases in the address of the activists.
The participants of the action left the Covered Market, leaving Samvel Alexanyan’s shouting supporters alone but promised to return soon, therefore the “supporters” could not decide for a long time whether to leave or not.
Filmmaker Tigran Khzmalyan advised the activists to use Facebook to call for a boycott of the Yerevan City chain of supermarkets.
The initiative has adopted an effective mechanism that makes Samvel Alexanyan keep his stores under daily control. Besides the police, he needs teams of “supporters” who will keep the stores under 24-hour scrutiny. The more populous the actions become, the higher the number of teams will grow.
Samvel Alexanyan will then have to maintain an army. At some point he will have to launch his guard of security staff and the mob which will clash with the citizens. Then the number of police officers will multiply.
So, who will be more persistent?

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

U.K. Ambassador At Covered Market
Hakob Badalyan
10 October 2013

http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/31074

News.am has published a snapshot of the UK ambassador Jonathan Aves who shopped at the Covered Market on October 9, put the bags in his car, watched the building and left.
Every person, including foreign diplomats, have the right to shop wherever they want. The Covered Market, however, is a sensitive issue. Does the ambassador know about it or not?
Of course, the Covered Market is the problem of the Armenian society which goes for fight against unlawfulness. However, an ambassador is concerned, which is important because the Armenian society continues to think of ambassadors of developed countries, including the United Kingdom, as partners in democratization and development of Armenia.
It is understood that the Constitution and legislation of Armenia limit considerably the participation of these partners in the process of democratization and civil society building in Armenia. It is also understood that these partners provide essential support within these limits.
However, it is highly important to be consistent and principled, including at the moral and psychological level.
What would the honorable ambassador do if a tycoon built a mall in the United Kingdom despite legislative limitations and infringing state order? And what would they do to this tycoon in the United Kingdom? What do they usually do with offenders there?
No doubt the British, and generally the Western civilization is strong thanks to the uncompromising attitude to law which is binding for everyone independent from one’s position and social status. Therefore, an offender cannot be encouraged either legally or morally.
Meanwhile, buying things from the Covered Market is equal to moral support to unlawfulness. Not only the citizens but also public administration bodies have stated that the Covered Market was built with violations of state order and legislation.
So, what’s the point of encouraging illegality? After all, the ambassadors, including those of the United Kingdom, have called the Armenian government to fight monopoly and oligopoly, ensure a competitive and lawful environment to encourage flow of foreign investments to Armenia. The Covered Market is a vivid example of trespassing by monopolies and oligopolies.
The civil activists of Armenia have called to boycott the Covered Market as shopping there means supporting unlawfulness. Ambassadors to Armenia who call for rule of law every now and then should also be mindful of the call of the civil society.
They are free to shop anywhere unless their freedom is not limited by some specific features of the seller that jeopardize public confidence in diplomats acting as partners in democratization, rule of law and civil society building.
This episode may be a small detail to support to Armenians in democratization but the devil is in the details, as the British say.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

DIVIDE AND RULE IS ARMENIAN AUTHORITIES' WEAPON - ACTIVIST
Armenian News - Tert.am 26.09.13

The authorities are guiding themselves by the divide and rule principle
by seeking to drive a wedge between the Armenian society and the
Diaspora, an activist has said, commenting on the ongoing protests
near the Yerevan Covered Market.

"The so-called supporters of Samvel Alexanyan [the businessman-MP
who is the market's owener] were very negatively disposed to the
Diaspora-Armenians," Karo Yeghnukyan, a member of the Pre-parliament
group, told a news conference on Thursday.

The activist noted that the protest against the market's reconstruction
sees the civil society undertaking the obligations of the political
forces in protecting the historical monument.

Yeghnukyan said that the civil campaign requires justice today, adding
that the laws in Armenia do not offer an effective protection to the
Covered Market.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

Scientific conferences useless unless we stop destroying monuments – protest in Yerevan (video)

25.09.13

While the Matenadaran (institute of ancient manuscripts) was hosting Wednesday afternoon a scientific conference devoted to cultural heritage issues, a group of Armenian activists staged a rally outside the building to attract attention to Yerevan’s Covered Market.

“Such scientific conferences are important but if theory is not going to be put into practice, if conferences are going to be held here, with monuments being destroyed at the other end of the street, this conference makes absolutely no sense,” said Gevorg Safaryan, a protester.


On behalf of the crowd, he called upon the conference participants to express their opinion on the city authorities’ decision to reconstruct the Covered Market (which is registered as a historical monument). “We call upon the participants to have their contribution to the monument’s preservation. As long as our monuments keep being destroyed by Armenians, we do not have the moral right to demand that our enemies preserve monument,” he said.

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2013/09/25/matenadaran1/

[Haykakan]

Re: Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

What are they saying?

The merchants are saying they have been told there will be renovations and they must be gone by that date but no return date has been given to them. There is a hotline setup about the renovation but no one answers the phone.

[bell-the-cat]

Re: Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

I suspect that the real goal of Aleksanyan was to remove the traders - small-scale capitalism by owner-suppliers is exactly what the criminal oligarchs like Aleksanyan do not want. They prefer to have a monopoly, and sell their own heavily processed and manaufactured products, often imported, rather than unprocessed local production. That's probably why Aleksanyan chose to destroy the covered market rather than go for the easier route and build a new, custom-built supermarket on another site.

What are they saying?

[londontsi]

Re: Yerevan's famous covered market demolished

Lfik Samo Went On Mashtots Avenue
Haik Aramyan
Monday, 02 September 2013

http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/30789

Like nobody goes to Ruben Hairapetyan’s restaurant in Avan, and those who go are reprehended.

Is this actually true?
I hope it is.
.