Status of Church properties under review, says Cadastre head

PanARMENIAN.Net - In response to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent remarks on revisiting Church property rights, Head of Armenia’s Cadastre Committee Suren Tovmasyan confirmed that the transfer of Hovhannavank Monastery and its adjacent land to the Armenian Apostolic Church was made by a government decision. He spoke to reporters in the National Assembly, as reported by Sputnik Armenia.

Tovmasyan emphasized that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, all land in Armenia belonged to the state, and only the government had the authority to redistribute it.

“Following the USSR’s collapse, property was distributed through laws, procedures, and the Land Code, with relevant permissions granted by government decisions,” he explained.

Responding to claims by the Church that both the Hovhannavank buildings and the surrounding land under the Aragatsotn Diocese belong to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Tovmasyan said: “The government decision concerning the building and land at Hovhannavank is what transferred the real estate to the Church.”

However, he noted that he still needs to examine the documents in detail to determine whether the transfer referred to ownership or usage rights, and whether it covered just the structure or included the surrounding land as well.

Tovmasyan added that the Armenian Apostolic Church currently holds around 600–700 property units on its balance sheet. “Some Church-owned properties are exempt from land and property taxes, but others are subject to regular payments,” he said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Pashinyan announced that the government intends to reassess the legal status of monasteries and churches previously granted to the Armenian Apostolic Church for free use. In recent months, the authorities have increased pressure on the Church, including the arrests of prominent clergymen such as Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, Bishop Mikael Ajapahyan, Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, and diocesan chancellor Garegin Arsenyan.