In 2018, Syrian-Armenian businessman Ara Dagesian decided to start a business in the agriculture sector in Armenia and purchased a 200-hectare land in Ferik village of Armavir Province, but faced unexpected obstacles. This is what Dagesian’s attorney Tigran Hayrapetyan told reporters today. According to Hayrapetyan, deputy of the ruling My Step faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Rustam Bakoyan was the one who created obstacles.
“We are holding this news conference since we have used up all the possible resources and haven’t been able to do anything due to the inaction of police officers and the MP’s interference,” the attorney said, adding that the MP has incited massive disturbances.
“We reported a crime, a criminal case was instituted, but investigative bodies didn’t take any action. After many hardships, the court recently upheld our appeal and ruled that Mr. Dagesian’s rights had been violated,” the attorney said.
The Syrian-Armenian businessman said he had moved to Armenia six years ago, but didn’t want to do business since he saw that doing business in Armenia was rather difficult. After the revolution in Armenia, he changed his mind, purchased a land, and his attorney said everything was fine and there were no obstacles. He hadn’t even started working on the land when the residents of Ferik village joined forces and tried to make the businessman leave the village.
The attorney added that the villagers had complained that the land used to be a grazing field and that they wanted it to be a grazing field now as well. “Mr. Dagesian told the villagers he would give them 50 hectares of land and even promised to create jobs for them. Somebody provoked the villagers, and they disagreed,” Hayrapetyan said, stating that the provoker is Rustam Bakoyan.
