Family in Armenia Asks Turkey for Assylum

Ararat Davtyan

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 – 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.

via Family in Armenia Asks Turkey for Assylum | Hetq online.