In a move condemned by the opposition, the Armenian government has granted the outgoing President Serzh Sarkisian ownership of a mansion in Yerevan where he and his predecessors have lived while in office.
The government formally approved the free privatization of the property and specified its address on Thursday. A senior official from the presidential staff, Varuzh Grigorian, confirmed on Monday that it is the very house where Sarkisian has lived with his family since becoming president ten years ago.
The house is part of a secluded government compound just outside the city center which has also been home to other high-ranking state officials. The two former Armenian presidents, Levon Ter-Petrosian and Robert Kocharian, also lived there with their family members when they governed the country. Both men were provided with free housing in other, more remote parts of Yerevan after leaving office.
Sarkisian’s decision not to leave the heavily guarded mansion after completing his second term on April 9 is widely seen as a further indication that he will become prime minister and thus stay in power. The Armenian parliament dominated by his loyalists is scheduled to appoint the next premier on April 17.
Opposition leaders said the development also means that he is keen to extend his rule indefinitely.
“It wasn’t just a decision to give Serzh Sarkisian a house. It was also a decision about the future of that government compound,” said Levon Zurabian, deputy chairman of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), an opposition party headed by Ter-Petrosian.
“He has already perpetuated his power in his mind and doesn’t want to leave that property,” Zurabian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am). He suggested that Sarkisian may also be seeking “additional security guarantees” that might be necessary after his eventual retirement.
Nikol Pashinian, another opposition leader, condemned the privatization in even stronger terms. “It’s a crime tantamount to a coup d’etat,” he told members of his Civil Contract party. “All members of the government are accomplices to that crime.”
Pashinian, who holds a seat in the Armenian parliament, said he will demand an “official explanation” from the government. The latter has so far given no reason for the controversial decision.
Civil Contract and other opposition groups are planning to hold rallies in Yerevan later this month to try to force Sarkisian to quit power.
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