Municipality Archives

Jerusalem municipality responds to Christian churches’ concerns over city tax

February 27, 2018 by administrator

The Jerusalem city hall has responded to the Christian communities’ concerns over the recently announced proposing texes for churches and monasteries.The mayor of the city has issued a statement saying that the legislation will apply only to “profitable church estate”, not the religious institution as such.But Archimandrite Koryun Baghdasaryan, the local Armenian patriarch, disagrees with the clarification, citing controversial provisions in the law.“The churches do pay taxes for profitable estate as it is, so the law in question clearly applies to churches and monasteries. This is why we are actually continuing the protest action now,” he told Tert.am on Tuesday.

The Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox communities closed the Holy Sepulchre church on Sunday to boycott the measure.

They haven’t ended the protest ever since despite the City Hall’s repeated assurances that the disputed measure doesn’t imply additional taxes and duties.In another controversial bill, the Israeli Knesset proposes establishing ownership rights to the land properties purchased from churches in the past couple of years.Baghdasaryan earlier said that they are determined to keep the church closed “until both decisions are annulled”.

The patriarch said he finds the protest historic because of its “political context implying also a violation of human rights”. He added that the three Christian churches, sharing the management of Holy Sepulchre, had earlier too, taken joint actions in support of common interests.

“Closing the church’s doors is also a historic moment – pursuing political objectives,” he added.

Asked about the expected financial burden, Nahapetyan said they estimate an annual tax duty of about $700,000. He added that they are more concerned over the principles given that the three Christian communities were for many centuries exempt from any taxes and fees.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, has labeled the attempts to collect taxes on church-owned properties and advance a new property law as a “fresh attempt by Israel to maintain ‘Jewish control’ over Jerusalem and its holy sites”

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Yerevan municipality elections: opposition bloc urges CEC to annul Republican’s registration

May 12, 2017 by administrator

As the campaign for the Yerevan City Council elections continues, the opposition bloc Yelk (Way Out) has embarked on active efforts towards ruling out the Republican Party’s name from voter ballots.
It has prepared two appeals questioning the validity of the governing political force’s campaign.
In one of the appeals, already submitted to the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), the bloc calls for annulling the RPA’s registration.
Two activists of Yelk, Artak Zeynalyan and Edmom Marukyan, took the appeals to the CEC, our correspondent reports from the scene.
“We have found out that [incumbent Mayor] Taron Margaryan distributes electoral bribes. So one of our appeals is a call for annuling the RPA’s registration for the elections and excluding them from the electoral campaign,” Marukyan said.
With their second appeal (which is to be submitted later today), the activists will try to rule out what they call the election check mechanisms to ensure that all the envelopes with ticked ballot papers contain no other unnecessary items after the voting.
“Sample ballots not matching the established standards, as well as those with colored pen marks must be declared invalid. Also, we will demand that all the ballot-papers be sealed by the election committee members,” said Nikol Pashinyan, the top candidate listed on the bloc’s electoral ballot.
He added that their team saw voters in Malatia-Sebastia administrative district being given electoral bribes in Margaryan’s campaign headquarters on Thursday.

Georgia: Rally staged outside Tbilisi’s Turkish embassy despite Municipality ban

April 24, 2016 by administrator

210989 Despite recommendation of Tbilisi’s Municipality and the statement of Georgia’s Armenian community on shifting the venue for the annual April 24 rally from outside the Turkish embassy to the territory adjacent to the church of St. Echmiadzin, a group of protesters still staged a rally outside the embassy to express their constitutional right.

Earlier, Georgia’s Armenian community issued a statement saying, “considering the complicated situation in the country and the region, as well as the stance, request and concern of the Georgian authorities, the community resolved to abstain from holding a traditional April 24 rally outside the Turkish embassy. This year, by way of exception, the event will be held at the territory adjacent to the church of St. Echmiadzin.”

Photo: Hayk Sahakyants

Istanbul Municipality to pay for confiscation of Armenian cemetery

October 5, 2015 by administrator

Istanbul Municipality will pay 111,850,000 Turkish liras (over $37 million) to Surp Agop Armenian Hospital’s foundation for the 4,474 square meters of land belonging to Istanbul’s Armenian cemetery, Ermenihaber.am reports.

Surp Agop Hospital’s foundation applied to the Turkish court 2 years ago.

According to Turkish cadastral registers, some 41,430 square meters of land served as the Armenian cemetery in Istanbul since 1936. The land was confiscated by the Turkish state in 1971, with the 4,474 square meters of land, belonging to the Armenian cemetery, used for construction of roads, underground passages and sidewalks.

The land was later returned to Surp Agop Hospital’s foundation under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision without those 4,474 square meters of land, already used for road construction.