APPARENTLY GYUMRI ISN’T SERZH SARGSYAN’S HOMELAND EITHER

Lragir.am
Interview – 25 March 2015, 16:15

A draft agreement is on the agenda of the March 26 meeting of
government according to which the Armenian side will allocate to the
Russian military base Lalayan Street, Gyumri with the land under
and adjacent to the Russian church and the land adjacent to 173/3
Lalayan Street with buildings on it. We talked to Levon Barseghyan,
chairman of Asparez Club of Journalists.

Mr. Barseghyan, what are your thoughts on the decision of this
government?

My opinion is very simple: if the government is not from people, it
will give up on many more other things. Apparently, Gyumri is not
Serzh Sargsyan’s homeland either, and it is not difficult for him
to order his servants to hand the territories of Armenia to other
countries. Apparently the Constitution is preventing them from doing
so. Here is just another outrageous, anti-national decision. If
tomorrow they tell them to give away their mansions, furniture,
belongings, clothes, the government will approve that. Why not? This
is it, there is no other opinion.

What area is concerned?

I can’t tell for sure but the first one is the land adjacent to
the Russian military unit which has been abandoned for years and
there is an old Russian brick church there. It is one of the three
Russian churches in Gyumri, as well as its adjacent territory. It is
approximately 10-15 hectares. It is on left of the cemetery as you
enter Gyumri via Yerevan highway.

The governor of Shirak says there is nothing bad about giving them
the church which they are going to repair.

They can let them repair the church. The church is in our territory
and is a historical and architectural monument. We do understand
that it is a Russian church. There is a mosque in Shushi. Does this
mosque belong to Azerbaijan? Not at all, the mosque is the property of
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Similarly, the church is our property. Yes,
it is Russian, we don’t want to have it changed to an Armenian
Apostolic Church. Let it remain a Russian church. So what? Let them
repair it, use it. But what does it mean to hand it, to allocate it?

The rumors that Armenia is going to hand territories, this is the
preparation, in fact, they are confirming them to some extent…