Armenian government amending Land Code: AAC not to be allowed to own  lands 

ArmInfo.  The Armenian government is proposing amendments to the Land Code, according to which, henceforth, community and state lands will be granted to the  Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin for the construction and maintenance  of churches not on the basis of ownership, but only on the basis of  gratuitous use. The corresponding draft is included in the agenda of  the executive body meeting on December 25.

"Considering that Article 64 of the Land Code of the Republic of  Armenia concerns the gratuitous provision of state- and  community-owned land plots, and that Article 75, Part 1, Clause 2.1  of the Code already provides for the gratuitous (permanent) use of  state- and community-owned land plots by the Armenian Apostolic  Church (Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin) without a competitive tender,  the draft law proposes the repeal of Article 64, Part 1.2 of the Land  Code of the Republic of Armenia of May 2, 2001," the explanatory note  to the document states.

Currently, in accordance with Part 1.2 of Article 64 of the Land Code  of the Republic of Armenia, state- and community-owned land plots are  provided to the Armenian Apostolic Church free of charge, on the  basis of ownership rights, for the construction and maintenance of  churches and church buildings. Since the provision on use is already  provided for in Part 1, Clause 2.1 of Article 75 of the Code, the  draft law proposes to repeal Part 1.2 of Article 64 of the Land Code  of the Republic of Armenia of May 2, 2001.

However, the rationale for the draft law does not specify the reason  for these changes. During interagency discussions, the Ministry of  Justice also noted this, emphasizing that "it is impossible to fully  assess the feasibility of adopting the draft based on the presented  rationale, as there is no adequate analysis of the current situation,  problems, the purpose of the regulation, and the expected outcome."

The initiator of the changes, the Ministry of Territorial  Administration and Infrastructure (MTAI), is noted to have based the  regulation on the instruction of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, made  during a meeting in Tavush in April 2023. In accordance with this  order, the Prime Minister was instructed to: "(...) in the context of  the prospective conversion of pastures into intensive gardens or  other valuable lands (e.g., arable land, perennial plantings),  discuss the advisability of maintaining restrictions on the transfer  of ownership of land plots occupied by public pastures, as defined in  Article 60 of the Land Code of the Republic of Armenia (...)".

The Prime Minister's Office itself noted that "the submitted draft  contains no mention of revising the relevant restriction in the  context of the prospective conversion of pastures into intensive  gardens or other valuable lands".

According to the Ministry of Justice, the aforementioned draft in no  way affects the aforementioned provisions. Following comments from  the Ministry of Justice, this part of the draft's justification was  removed.

The regulations introduced by the government cannot be applied to  lands transferred to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin to date.  Essentially, the government will no longer grant land to the Armenian  Apostolic Church free of charge.

As a reminder, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, addressing the  controversy surrounding the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) on  October 22 in the National Assembly, and in particular the former  spiritual pastor of Hovhannavank, Father Aram, canonized by Karekin  II and now officially a layman under the name Stepan Asatryan,  stated: "If I understand correctly, Hovhannavank, like many other  monuments, is owned by the state, while a number of churches have  been transferred to the AAC for free use." I believe that where there  is no spiritual life, but rather intrigues, conspiracies, and groups  of false priests or false elders, we can, and there are all moral and  legal grounds for this, return these monuments to society and support  Father Aram and priests like him in every way possible, so that they  can revive genuine spiritual life in Armenia.

Pashinyan's assertion about Hovhannavank was examined by Hetq, which  declared it baseless,

"The fact is that Hovhannavank, like many churches and monasteries,  belongs to the Mother See by right of ownership. Moreover, on  February 17, 2005, Andranik Margaryan's government decided to  alienate the Armenian Apostolic Church's right of gratuitous  ownership of the land plots occupied by monasteries and churches  belonging to the latter and necessary for their maintenance, which  had previously been transferred to the Mother See by right of  gratuitous use.

The AAC has documents confirming this: a certificate of ownership,  or, as Pashinyan put it, a "cadastral document." According to a  document obtained by Hetq from the Cadastral Committee, the religious  organization Armenian Apostolic Holy Church owns both the  Hovhannavank land plot and the buildings and structures erected on  it. This right of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church was registered  in the Cadastre more than 20 years ago, on March 25, 2005. By this  decision, the Executive Authority of the Mother See expropriated the  lands occupied by 21 churches and monasteries in the Aragatsotn  region, totaling 86,770 square meters or 8.67 hectares. In total, in  2005, the Government gratuitously expropriated the lands of 172  monasteries and churches in Yerevan and 10 regions to the Armenian  Apostolic Church; the land areas of another six were subject to  clarification and subsequent expropriation.