Don’t Let Turks Buy Land in Armenia; Impose Tariffs on Turkish Imports

By Harut Sassounian

The Armenian government must take two important steps prior to opening
the border with Turkey: 1) Forbid Turkish citizens from buying real
estate in Armenia; and 2) Place tariffs on the import of products from
Turkey.
Obviously, Turkish citizens do not have to cross the Armenian border
to be able to buy real estate in Armenia. But, with the opening of the
mutual land border, more Turkish citizens will be able to come to
Armenia, thus increasing the flow of people and products from Turkey.
Allowing the citizens of a hostile country like Turkey to purchase
real estate in Armenia is a serious national security threat,
particularly if these properties are located near sensitive border
areas.
There is a big contradiction between what the Constitution and laws of
Armenia stipulate regarding the purchase of real estate by foreigners
and what is actually practiced. Now that a Constitutional Committee
has been set up to reform the existing Constitution, last amended in
2015, this is the right time to reconsider the existing provisions as
to who can buy real estate in Armenia. There should be a ban on
foreigners’ purchase of properties near Armenia’s border. In addition,
citizens of Azerbaijan and Turkey should not be allowed to purchase
any kind of property anywhere in Armenia.
This problem is particularly urgent because several years ago the
Turkish government adopted a law that forbade the purchase of property
in Turkey by citizens of four countries: Armenia, Cuba, North Korea
and Syria. Citizens of another 35 countries are restricted to purchase
property in Turkey based on the nature and location of the land. One
would think that since the Turkish government has forbidden Armenian
citizens from buying land in Turkey, Armenia should have reciprocated
by banning the purchase of land in Armenia by Turkish citizens.
I wrote an article in 2012, informing Armenian officials of the
Turkish law that banned the citizens of Armenia from buying land in
Turkey and urged “the Armenian Parliament to consider adopting
retaliatory measures against citizens of Turkey interested in
purchasing Armenian properties.” Regrettably, my suggestion was
ignored.
The 1995 Constitution prohibited foreigners from purchasing land in
Armenia. However, this was contradicted by the Armenian government’s
subsequent report to the World Trade Organization: “foreigners have
the right to own real estate properties built on Armenian land.” The
report also stated that “the [Armenian] legislation grants the
Government the power to limit and prohibit foreign investment for
national security concerns.”
In line with the Constitution of 1995, the subsequent Armenian
Constitutions of 2005 and 2015 also stated that “Foreign citizens and
stateless persons shall not enjoy ownership right over land, except
for cases provided for by law.”
If foreigners are not allowed to purchase land or real estate in
Armenia, then how were they able to buy them? In 2019 alone,
foreigners, contrary to the Armenian Constitution, purchased 186
apartments, 72 houses, two factories, nine public properties and even
121 plots of land. How was this possible?
Much more concerning is that citizens of the enemy states of
Azerbaijan and Turkey have been buying properties in Armenia without
any objection. According to the figures released last week by the
Armenian government’s cadastre or official registry of real estate,
from 2010 to 2021 citizens of Azerbaijan purchased six properties in
Armenia, which included five apartments and one public property.
During the same period, citizens of Turkey bought 71 pieces of real
estate, including 55 apartments, five houses, one garage, seven public
properties and three plots of land in Armenia.
I assume that many of the Turkish citizens who purchased real estate
in Armenia are of Armenian origin. I suggest that the Armenian
government make an exception for those who are of Armenian origin, if
and when the purchase of real estate by Turkish citizens is banned.
Finally, turning to the import of products from Turkey and other
countries, the Armenian government must impose tariffs to protect the
viability of domestic production. Since Turkey has a very large
population, it is able to produce items much cheaper due to mass
scale. Armenian producers, unable to compete with them, will go out of
business. Already the Armenian market is flooded with Turkish
products. After opening the border, Turkish products will no longer
have to go through the expense of importing them via Georgia, which
means that they will be even cheaper creating a bigger problem for
domestic producers. Making matters worse, the collapsing value of the
Turkish Lira has made the prices of imported products from Turkey
cheaper.
Before several sectors of Armenia’s economy are completely devastated,
the Armenian government must place tariffs on imported Turkish
products to protect Armenia’s vulnerable producers.