 In 1992, privatisation law was passed on certain conditions with regard to the border regions, such as the ban on owning land within 21 kilometres from the state border.Large areas of arable land in Gardabani and Marneuli were thus transferred to the control of the Ministry of Defence, and many families ended up owning only 1 to 1.5 hectares of land or less.Although after Mikheil Saakashvili's rise to power in 2004 the ban was lifted, local Azeris complained of unawareness of the changing laws as the main reason for dissatisfaction and expressed scepticism with regard to the situation improving.