YEREVAN. – Once Armenian Gyumri city Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan purchases the great Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan’s house in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, it will become an Armenian-Georgian—or simply a literary, cultural, and educational—center, Lori Patriotic Union Chairman—and Armenian State Language Inspectorate Chief—Sergo Yeritsyan stated during a press conference on Tuesday, adding that Tbilisi City Hall expressed readiness to renovate the house.  

Reflecting on the purchase price, Writers’ Union Chairman Levon Ananyan noted that 1m2 is worth $ 800-1,300 in that area. “I will provide the required amount,” Vardan Ghukasyan has said, according to Ananyan.   

In her turn, Hovhannes Tumanyan’s granddaughter Irma Safrastbekyan informed with delight that the problem is resolved, and that their family will no longer deal with this matter. 

To note, Gyumri Mayor Vardan Ghukasyan has signed a note of obligation to purchase Hovhannes Tumanyan’s house in Tbilisi. 

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, the ruling coalition’s Prosperous Armenia Party Chairman, businessman Gagik Tsarukyan has no intentions to purchase Hovhannes Tumanyan’s house in Tbilisi, Tsarukyan’s spokesperson Khachik Galstyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am, refuting the media rumors on the purchase.

Armenian News-NEWS.am tried to clarify what the Ministry of Culture’s conclusion was after the Armenian delegation, led by Writers’ Union Chairman Levon Ananyan, recently visited Tbilisi. The Ministry responded that the house already has a buyer who is going to grant it to the Armenian community, but on the condition that it will later be turned into a cultural center.  The future of the house also was discussed in the meeting convened at PM Tigran Sargsyan’s residence on Jan. 26.

Tumanyan’s house could have been sold. Part of it was purchased by a Georgian businessman in the 1990s, who was going to sell it to the Turkish-Georgian Geo Turan company. As a result, the company intended to turn it into a hostel for Turkish citizens. The company asked Tumanyan’s great-grandson Alen Tumanyan to sell the other part of the house, but this was rejected.