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Corrupt Land Grab Forces Many to Leave Armenian Border Village of Koutakan
Kristine Aghalaryan
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/19706/corrupt-land-grab-forces-many-to-leave-armenian-border-village-of-koutakan.html
12:45, October 20, 2012
The village of Koutakan lies 15 kilometres north-east of the town of
Vardenis, not far from the Azerbaijani border.
Most local residents call the village by its old name - Gyunashli. It
was once populated by Azeris and now by Armenians forced to flee
Azerbaijan. The village, at 2,100 meters above sea level, has around
150 residents. It once had triple that number.
One of the main reasons for the decrease is the scarcity of land.
Koutakan Mayor Aharon Abrahamyan says that 500 hectares of the
community's 1,230 hectares was privatized back in the early 1990s. The
land was divided up amongst 40 families. Another 700 hectares was
leased to twelve individuals.
Local residents claim that the mayor at the time allocated the 700
hectares to friends and relatives.
Today, twenty Koutakan families, including young ones, have no land.
The MaxFruit Company had leased 156 hectares; 105 hectares was leased
by Vladimir Khachatryan, brother of the former mayor; 65 went to Kajik
Avetisyan, a friend of the former mayor. Former Mayor Mikayel
Khachatryan himself has 100 hectares. They all have twenty five year
leases.
`My husband was in the war and came here in 1996. All the land had
been privatized without any advance notification. None of the rules
were followed,' says Deputy Mayor Karmen Gevorgyan.
Her family only received one-third of a hectare. They grow potatoes on
the land. Grains can't be grown on such tiny plots.
Residents have complained about the illegal actions of the former
mayor, but to no avail.
Max Fruit had for years been farming on the 156 hectares it had
leased. Last year, however, it didn't pay the rent nor did it return
the land to the community. The new mayor voided the contract in order
to allocate the land to the villagers.
An auction was conducted and 75 of the 156 hectares have been
distributed to 23 families that had no land. The land has been leased
to them. The privatization process is too expensive for the villagers
to pay.
At about the same time a character names Mkoyi Samvel showed up and
warned the villagers not to work the land, threatening to set it
ablaze if they did.
Residents describe Mkoyi Samvel as a large-scale farmer who presented
himself as a shareholder in MaxFruit.
Mayor Abrahamyan says he has no time to waste on Mkoyi Samvel because
the contract with the company has been legally nullified.
The deputy mayor says that Mkoyi Samvel has been a thorn in the side
of the community since the land was first leased to MaxFruit.
`There was a man from Vardenis who had ploughed and sown the land.
Samvel shows up and tells the farmer to stop all planting or else
he'll run him over with a tractor. Samvel maintained the land was his
but failed to show any documentation.'
None of the proper state agencies have bothered to study the land
issue in Koutakan. They don't seem at all interested to get to the
bottom of why the former mayor divvied up so much land to friends and
relatives.
As a result, many ordinary village families have no land to grow food
for consumption or sale. No wonder the village, on the border with
Azerbaijan, has shrunk from 5000 to 150 residents.
From: Baghdasarian
Kristine Aghalaryan
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/19706/corrupt-land-grab-forces-many-to-leave-armenian-border-village-of-koutakan.html
12:45, October 20, 2012
The village of Koutakan lies 15 kilometres north-east of the town of
Vardenis, not far from the Azerbaijani border.
Most local residents call the village by its old name - Gyunashli. It
was once populated by Azeris and now by Armenians forced to flee
Azerbaijan. The village, at 2,100 meters above sea level, has around
150 residents. It once had triple that number.
One of the main reasons for the decrease is the scarcity of land.
Koutakan Mayor Aharon Abrahamyan says that 500 hectares of the
community's 1,230 hectares was privatized back in the early 1990s. The
land was divided up amongst 40 families. Another 700 hectares was
leased to twelve individuals.
Local residents claim that the mayor at the time allocated the 700
hectares to friends and relatives.
Today, twenty Koutakan families, including young ones, have no land.
The MaxFruit Company had leased 156 hectares; 105 hectares was leased
by Vladimir Khachatryan, brother of the former mayor; 65 went to Kajik
Avetisyan, a friend of the former mayor. Former Mayor Mikayel
Khachatryan himself has 100 hectares. They all have twenty five year
leases.
`My husband was in the war and came here in 1996. All the land had
been privatized without any advance notification. None of the rules
were followed,' says Deputy Mayor Karmen Gevorgyan.
Her family only received one-third of a hectare. They grow potatoes on
the land. Grains can't be grown on such tiny plots.
Residents have complained about the illegal actions of the former
mayor, but to no avail.
Max Fruit had for years been farming on the 156 hectares it had
leased. Last year, however, it didn't pay the rent nor did it return
the land to the community. The new mayor voided the contract in order
to allocate the land to the villagers.
An auction was conducted and 75 of the 156 hectares have been
distributed to 23 families that had no land. The land has been leased
to them. The privatization process is too expensive for the villagers
to pay.
At about the same time a character names Mkoyi Samvel showed up and
warned the villagers not to work the land, threatening to set it
ablaze if they did.
Residents describe Mkoyi Samvel as a large-scale farmer who presented
himself as a shareholder in MaxFruit.
Mayor Abrahamyan says he has no time to waste on Mkoyi Samvel because
the contract with the company has been legally nullified.
The deputy mayor says that Mkoyi Samvel has been a thorn in the side
of the community since the land was first leased to MaxFruit.
`There was a man from Vardenis who had ploughed and sown the land.
Samvel shows up and tells the farmer to stop all planting or else
he'll run him over with a tractor. Samvel maintained the land was his
but failed to show any documentation.'
None of the proper state agencies have bothered to study the land
issue in Koutakan. They don't seem at all interested to get to the
bottom of why the former mayor divvied up so much land to friends and
relatives.
As a result, many ordinary village families have no land to grow food
for consumption or sale. No wonder the village, on the border with
Azerbaijan, has shrunk from 5000 to 150 residents.
From: Baghdasarian