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Director of Armenian Forests NGO, lawyer Nazeli Vardanyan on Saturday strongly condemned the recent tree felling in Mashtots Park in downtown Yerevan, which triggered much uproar in the country.

Vardanyan called for a law to grant special permits for cutting trees as Armenia, especially Yerevan, are facing shortage of green areas.

She stressed tree felling is ‘unacceptable’ under any circumstances.

"It is surprising that the municipal authorities continue to allow tree felling, arguing the trees are too old and need to be cut down. What logic is this? Cutting down any tree is unacceptable," the lawyer told Panorama.am.

She also reacted to the decision of Mayor of Yerevan Hayk Marutyan to allow the construction of a new restaurant and café in the park.

Speaking at a news conference on 4 August, the mayor said his predecessor had leased part of the park to the owner of a former café operating there until 2018. He said the latter had agreed to give up the ownership of the café in return for renting the same plot of land belonging to the Yerevan municipality until 2040, therefore the municipal authorities now have no right to prohibit the owner from any activity in the park.

Vardanyan says the mayor’s statement is illegal. “Formerly, they said such statements stemmed from certain interests. But the revolution came to bring everything to the legal framework. Under Article 60 of the Land Code public areas, including parks and gardens, are not subject to privatization, how can someone have property rights over them? They should have voided the deal and end all this,” she said.

The lawyer stated no free areas have been left for tree planting any longer. “They say the former authorities have made a decision, and we can’t do anything about it now. In that case what was the revolution for? It was meant to eliminate all illegalities,” she stressed.

Nazeli Vardanyan said the recent tree felling is not the only case, adding trees have also been cut in another part of Mashtots Park, Kimitas Avenue and elsewhere. “There is an absolute lack of supervision,” she said.

Reflecting on the green area per capita in the post-Soviet countries, Nazeli Vardanyan noted that in the CIS countries there is about 2.9 hectares of green area per capita, while in Armenia it makes up only 0.01 hectares.

Besides, she reminded that Yerevan is located in a semi-desert zone, and the green areas are of vital importance for the city, especially for the densely populated downtown Yerevan.