Turkish citizens own 72 properties in Armenia – Cadastre Committee
YEREVAN, March 28. /ARKA/. Since 2002 citizens of Turkey have acquired 72 properties in Armenia, the bulk of which are apartments and small private companies, Suren Tovmasyan, head of the Armenian Cadastre Committee, told reporters on Monday.
'We do not see any problems that may result from this ownership," Tovmasyan said, adding that Armenia's legislation bans only sale of agricultural land to foreigners.
Asked if citizens of Azerbaijan own property in Armenia, he said they can acquire real estate here only if they have a tourist passport issued by Armenia. He said at the moment only 5-6 citizens of Azerbaijan own it.
Tovmasyan denied rumors that more citizens of Turkey and Azerbaijan were buying property in Armenia in recent years.
Earlier, Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan confirmed that Turkish citizens have always purchased real estate and companies in Armenia.
Kerobyan also said no strategy was being developed to protect the country's strategic interests in the context of efforts to normalize relations with Turkey.
Although Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence from the former Soviet Union, the countries have no diplomatic ties and Turkey shut down their common border in 1993, in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Turkey also refuses to recognize the Armenian genocide, committed during 1915-1923 when an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman government. The overwhelming majority of historians widely view the event as genocide.
In 2009, Ankara and Yerevan reached an agreement in Zurich to establish diplomatic relations and to open their joint border, but Turkey later said it could not ratify the deal until Armenia withdrew from Nagorno-Karabakh.
In 2020, Turkey strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Earlier, Armenia and Turkish picked up special envoys to negotiate normalization of relations who already have had two meetings.-0-
