Two leading skiers from Armenia Katya Galstyan and Tadevos Poghosyan have triumphed at the international competition for developing ski nations held in Lebanon.
Tadevos Poghosyan took the first place in the 10km classic style race, scoring 85.14 rating points, while Katya Galstyan was out of competition in the 5km freestyle of the women’s competition. Galstyan scored 110,5 points, setting the best result in her professional career.
Baku, January 12, AZERTAC
“The status quo based on occupation is unacceptable. Armenia is trying to use the "fait accompli" attitude and strengthen the occupation,” said head of the Department of Foreign Policy Affairs of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev as he was interviewed by TRT World.
Hajiyev said that the fundamental basis of the conflict is the aggression policy pursued by Armenia against Azerbaijan by using force. He noted that Armenia carried out a bloody ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis in the occupied territories and more than a million Azerbaijanis are still forced to live as refugees and IDPs. Hajiyev underlined that in order to achieve progress in the settlement of the conflict, first of all, the occupation must be ended and Armenian troops must be withdrawn from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. Noting that the basis for the settlement of the conflict was enshrined in the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council, the Helsinki Final Act and other documents, Hajiyev stressed that after the withdrawal of Armenian troops from the occupied territories, opportunities for a political solution to the conflict can appear.
Touching upon the Dushanbe Summit, he recalled the conversation between President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and said that the Republic of Azerbaijan once again demonstrated its constructive position. Hajiyev pointed out that Azerbaijan is the most interested party in the soonest settlement of the conflict because Azerbaijan has been suffering from occupation for more than 26 years. Hajiyev pointed out that there are favorable opportunities for settling the conflict and noted that Armenia should take steps to resolve the conflict after the formation of government.
Answering a question about the possibility of ethnic reconciliation, the Presidential Administration official said that Azerbaijan is proud of its multicultural values and culture of tolerance, and despite the fact that the national peace process is a complicated and time-consuming issue as part of the conflict resolution process, it is possible. "For this, first of all, Armenian troops must be withdrawn from the occupied territories and the return of Azerbaijani IDPs to their native lands must be ensured. In this aspect, confidence-building measures can be taken, comprehensive regional cooperation can be restored and ethnic reconciliation can be ensured," he said.
Hajiyev reminded that at present Armenia is isolated, does not have access to regional transport projects, adding that however the settlement of the conflict can create regional cooperation opportunities for the country. He called on Armenia to end its occupation policy and pursue international law-based policy toward neighboring states, adding that the Armenian authorities should prepare their people for peace with neighboring countries.
ArmInfo. The collapse of the wall of the building of the children's philharmonic society at Arami Str. 23, is symbolic because it was the result of unorganized work. This opinion is shared by chief architect of Yerevan, Arthur Meschyan, as quoted by the press service of the Yerevan municipality.
According to the source, the chief architect recalls that over the past three months, there has only been talk of the need to strengthen the building, projects have been submitted, which were rejected by the RA Ministry of Culture. "Thank God that there are no human victims, the wall can be restored and the old value returned to the building. This case should be a lesson so that buildings under construction are erected in such a way that there is no similar story. – said the chief architect, expressing hope for the earliest possible decision-making by the Ministry of Culture of the country in whose jurisdiction the building is located.
Arthur Meschyan assured that a new project will be developed together with the architect of the Old Yerevan project, and the objects being built next to the monument will not have a negative impact on him. The first one, which was developed by the architect of the "Old Yerevan" project, was rejected by the Ministry of Culture and the town planning committee as a result of the discussions, since it was considered dangerous to the integrity of the building. The second and third projects developed by engineers and specialists of the Ministry of Emergency Situations also did not receive approval of the department. Currently, a fourth project has been developed, for which the investor has declared his readiness to finance it. The building, built in the 90s of the 18th century, is in the register of protected monuments of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia, but this status, as in the case of other architectural monuments, does not save it from the threat of destruction. The building is conducted by world-famous children's choir "Little Singers of Armenia". On the possibility of building collapse testified and examination of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
As parents of students and school staff told the ArmInfo correspondent, everything began with the construction directly next to the architectural monument of the next elite building. According to the teachers, the contractors carrying out construction work violated all conceivable and inconceivable construction norms, as a result of which the foundation of the old building began to settle, and deep cracks formed on the walls.
The project "Old Yerevan" covers about 100,000 square meters of construction in the center of Yerevan – from Abovyan Street to Koghbatsi Street, from Arami Street to Buzand Street. According to the project, it is planned to restore the architectural appearance of the Armenian capital of the late XIX – early XX centuries. It was assumed that the project "Old Yerevan" worth $ 150 million was to be completed in 2010-2011. However, the government entered into an agreement with Multicontinental distribution only in 2014 due to some problems. Construction work started only in 2017.
Second part of an exclusive interview of "Caucasus Watch" with Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region. In this part of the interview, the expert comments on the current developments around Armenia and the Nagorny Karabakh conflict.
You say that the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh is one of the most damaging factors to the overall development of the Caucasus. You also claim that prospects for peace are as bleak as ever. Yet, talks between both governments seem to be underway and in September both countries agreed to establish a direct line of communication to avoid violence and miscalculations at the line of contact. So you expect the new government in Yerevan is still not going to make any kind of real concessions, despite the current rhetoric?
Let us just take a step back and look at this conflict, which dates back to the late 1980s. It is basically 30 years old, but you still have this long ceasefire line running through the Caucasus and armies of 20.000 men on either side, which are equipped with heavy weaponry, artillery and aircraft as well as very weak international mechanism in place. There is a small monitoring mission with six OSCE observers, as well as the very modest Minsk group under the co-chairmanship format that is trying to mediate the conflict. So basically everything comes down to the will and decision-making of the leaders on both sides. This is not a conflict where there is much international influence, so it is quite worrying that the two sides find it very difficult to talk. The foreign ministers talk occasionally and the presidents meet perhaps once a year but there are few channels of communication. Therefore, to be frank, it is amazing that there has been no hotline between the two sides given the danger of the situation. This is a minimum step that was needed to make the situation a little more manageable.
When it comes to the new Armenian government, I believe we are not going to see many changes, at least not soon. For Pashinyan, the priority is to reform the domestic economy, crack down on corruption and get rid of old monopolies. He is certainly not trying to upset the Karabakh-process. Being a leader from Yerevan he cannot afford to upset the Karabakh Armenians. He knows that the last leader who tried to upset the Karabakh Armenians was Levon Ter Petrosyan, who was actually deposed when he tried to do that in 1998. For all these reasons, he is going to just try to hold on to the status quo and this is probably not to the liking of Azerbaijan. Baku wants to see either a more active peace process or it wants to shake up the situation with some kind of military action. It does not want to see a quiet status quo, but a quiet status quo is unfortunately what I think the new Armenian leadership wants.
The new generation is more uncompromisingly nationalist. Do you think, a moderate Pashinyan regime could change this attitude over time or will the street rather drive the regime in its foreign policy?
I broadly think the change of regime in Armenia is positive, allowing in a new generation who really want to tackle Armenia’s problems. This generation is not corrupt and this leadership has a real legitimacy. I hope they will not squander that legitimacy. If that is the case, with time, they could use that legitimacy to try to pursue a real peace process with Azerbaijan and try to get the public interested in discussing the price of peace with Baku, but that will take time. Also, the compromises that Armenia will be prepared to make will almost certainly not be good enough for the Azerbaijanis. But I believe that this is a conflict where a „liberal peace“, meaning democratically legitimate government on both sides talking to one another, could in the long run, not immediately, but in many years ahead, be achieved.
US National Security Adviser Bolton recently visited the Caucasus. Especially in Armenia, he seemed to put pressure on the new government. Experts think he might want the Nagorny Karabakh conflict to be solved, so that Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan can be opened up. As a consequence, Armenia could close its border to Iran, which it now is dependent upon. Do you think this is a realistic viewpoint and could the US become partner for Armenia?
I was quite amazed by Bolton’s comments. Up to now it has always been the US policy that it has problems with Iran but accepts other countries‘ approaches, especially those of its neighbors, and that applies to Armenia, which Iran is the only one of two open borders Armenia has. The idea that the Nagorny Karabakh problem could be magically resolved and the borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey would be opened up so that Armenia suddenly does not have to deal with Iran seems to be magical thinking with no basis in reality. This conflict is deeply intractable. it cannot be solved quickly and Armenia needs its southern border with Iran, so there is already a lot of pushback against Bolton’s comments. Azerbaijan actually has a few more options, but it also needs to keep its border with Iran open. The idea that they could close their border with Iran is a non-starter both for Armenia and for Azerbaijan.
In regards to the Velvet revolution, you say that the old elites are organized in a “conglomerate” and will likely resist longer than its head, Sarksyan. Do you think the new government under Pashinyan can channel the political momentum of the street into institutional power and reform the system?
This is absolutely the major question. How can you build institutions in a country, which has basically been governed by informal power? Do you build institutions through public consent from the bottom up or do you think Armenia already has a lot to work with by having a professional class in a civil service and public servants?
But there are definitely questions about Pashinyans style. He is a revolutionary rather than a statesman. Is he interested in building institutions or is he a “second Saakashvili”, who is only interested in PR and revolutionary actions? I really do not think we have the answers to this right now. These is the questions to watch and the answers will be a little clearer now that we have had elections. Now that he has won the elections, as we expected, and he has proper power in Armenia, he can look at governing rather than at winning power for the first time.
So should we stay skeptical about his motives? Right now he seems to be the seen as a kind of “savior figure”.
He seems to have a genuine desire to rid Armenia of corruption and he seems not to be corrupt, but he has a kind of revolutionary style. This will be a big transition to make, from being a revolutionary to becoming a statesman.
So far the Armenian Diaspora in the West has been occupied with the tensions between Turkey and Armenia. Do you think Armenians abroad will now start to be more active in promoting liberal political and economic ideas?
I see the year 2015 as a turning point to the Armenia Diaspora as the centenary of the Armenian genocide. They thought almost exclusively about Turkey and “Western Armenia” as they call it and about the genocide, but after that centenary has passed, we have seen a change of emphasis in the Diaspora organizations. We have also seen a younger generation that has a different set of attitudes and some Diaspora Armenians have actually come to Armenia to work in the IT-sector for example. I believe there is a better environment for the Armenia-Diaspora relations and there are a number of people in the Diaspora who want to do what they can for Armenia. Now many are thinking more about Armenia rather than about Turkey. Will the new government be able to use these resources? Again, it is a little bit early to tell but I hope the answer is yes, because they are a very useful resource.
You say that with the end of the Soviet Union, “the Caucasian baby was thrown out with the Communist bathwater”. Several organizations as well as institutions have failed and mostly did not include all political entities of the Caucasus. New geopolitical concepts also fall short in their description of the region (eg. New Great Game, Silk Road etc.) and you claim that all outside actors and Caucasus nations as well as non-state entities should have a say in regional integration. Is there any existing initiative you think would have potential in this regard or could be a starting point? You mentioned the EU but also acknowledge the limits of EU integration.
It is so frustrating when looking at the region, because the Caucasus has such a great potential. One cliché that is true about the Caucasus is that it is a crossroads between the East, West, North and South. Therefore, it could be a great communications hub. Imagine if railways were finally opened up across the Caucasus, it really would be a crossroad between Europe, Asia the Middle East and Russia. Yet, obviously that has not happened. I do think the potential is still there and that the people of that region understand each other well on the people-to-people level despite the conflicts. Due to that, the potential is still there, but the question is what can be done to encourage this kind of cross-Caucasus cooperation? The EU can do a certain amount but I think most of it has to come from within the region as a cross border project. The most promising projects I see have to do with the environment. I mentioned the “Caucasus Nature Fund” in my final chapter, which is helping National Parks in the region. There is also the “Transcaucasian Trail”, which is a network of footpaths through the region and I think everything that links tourism and the environment is a good start. The politicians have fallen behind but hopefully ordinary people and some non-governmental people can start and the politicians can follow later.
You mentioned the potential to become a crossroad and some of our experts talked about a growing Chinese involvement in the region. Do you see this as well, and do you think a growing Chinese engagement can bring actors together or will that be a divisive factor?
China is definitely now an actor in the Caucasus. It is primarily an economic actor and it is building infrastructure. At the moment, I would say this is a positive influence, building roads and railroads and bringing investments to the Caucasus, but let us not be naïve. China has its own political agenda and China is not a democracy. It is useful for the region to have investments but it is something that also needs to be watched and questioned about whether there is a price tag attached to that later on. China is not the EU, which I think has generally a much more altruistic interest in the region.
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Thomas de Waal is a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region. He is the author of numerous publications about the region. His latest book is Great Catastrophe: Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide (Oxford University Press, 2015). He is also the author of the authoritative book on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War (NYU Press, second edition 2013), which has been translated into Armenian, Azeri, Russian, and Turkish, and of The Caucasus: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010). De Waal has worked extensively as a journalist and writer in the Caucasus and Black Sea region and in Russia. From 1993 to 1997, he worked in Moscow for the Moscow Times, the Times of London, and the Economist, specializing in Russian politics and the situation in Chechnya. He is the co-author (with Carlotta Gall) of the book Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus (NYU Press, 1997), for which the authors were awarded the James Cameron Prize for Distinguished Reporting. He has also worked for the BBC and for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, a London-based NGO.
Paris would better comment on the violence against demonstrators, instead of commenting on the issue of Mehman Huseynov, the spokesperson for the Azerbaijani MFA, Leyla Abdullayeva, told Trend.
Her remarks came in response to comment on the French Foreign Ministry’s statement on the issue of blogger Mehman Huseynov.
According to her, it is ridiculous to comment in this regard amid yellow vests protests taking place in France.
“Water cannons, batons and other means of violence are used against the protesters in this country, and more than 4,500 protestors have been detained,” she said. “Azerbaijan hopes that the charges against the demonstrators detained in France will be dropped and they will soon be released.”
She noted that France has held a pro-Armenian position, and this can be perceived as exerting pressure on Azerbaijan.
“Harlem Desir, who served as French Foreign Ministry’s Secretary of State and oversaw the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, was known in Azerbaijan as a person with a pro-Armenian position,” said Abdullayeva adding: “Apparently, Desir, having forgotten the principle of impartiality, preferred to speak representing his country’s stance. We can therefore recommend him to assess the violence faced by protesters in his country. Everyone sees what is happening in the world. All this is manifestation of double standards against Azerbaijan.”
ArmInfo. The main problems faced currently by the Armenian society, the solution of which the people expect from the new authorities, are unemployment, depopulation, low basic pensions and wages against the background of growing inflation.
This opinion was expressed by Aram Safaryan, Head of the "Integration and Development" Analytical- Research NGO, coordinator of the Eurasian Expert Club, in an interview with ArmInfo correspondent, based on the data of the research report "Armenia in New Conditions" prepared by the club experts.
In addition, according to him, the society expects the authorities to uncompromisingly fight corruption, severely punish all former officials who have been illegally enriched by abusing office authority and bribery and returning to the state treasury the property acquired bypassing the law, to invest these funds into the country's economy in order to obtain further multiplicative effect. At the same time, according to the expert, the Armenian society does not want a vendetta.
Nevertheless, as Safaryan noted, the new year's appeal of the Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan showed that the new government is aware of these impulses coming from society, understands that the time for slogans and revolutions ended with the early parliamentary elections held on December 9, and now it is time for civilian consolidation in order to implement real and deep reforms. "As our studies have shown, the society is now ready to fully assist the authorities in the implementation of these reforms and the resolution of socio-economic problems. It is difficult to say how long the current government will enjoy such goodwill of society. But we believe that this will last at least two years. That is, the authorities have two years to make changes. But during these two years, the authorities must show their competence, not only honesty and decency, the desire to work with clean hands, but also professionalism and efficiency, "he said, recalling that the figures for the last two quarters of 2018 showed that political processes affected the pace of economic growth, somewhat slowing them down, which in principle is an objective, but disturbing phenomenon. Therefore, he stressed, the year 2019 should become a year of economic and political stability, create prerequisites for attracting investment. "Of course, this is not an easy process, businessmen from the Diaspora, are monitoring the situation in the country, refraining from real projects. They are waiting for specific actions of the authorities, the establishment of stability and predictability of processes. The measures taken by the government in 2017, early 2018, created the conditions for further economic growth, which would be able to somewhat improve the well-being of society and reduce the rate of depopulation. Unfortunately, in the second half of 2018 these rates were reduced. And the main task of the government in 2019 should be to restore these rates. The Eurasian expert club believes that if Armenia succeeds in fixing 7% of GDP growth, then within 7-10 years the country will be able to "jump out" from the list of poor states and replenish the list of developing economies, Safaryan said. Summarizing, he stressed that society has positive expectations from the new parliament and government.
ArmInfo. Article 301 brings the final death to freedom of speech in Turkey, lawmaker of the Turkish parliament from the Democratic Party of Peoples Garo Paylan expressed such an opinion to ArmInfo, commenting on the latest processes initiated against him.
On January 11, the republican prosecutor's office of Diarbekir sent a petition to the Turkish parliament to deprive him of parliamentary immunity. At the same time, this structure applied to the Ministry of Justice of Turkey for permission to launch an investigation against the parliamentarian on the grounds of Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code – public humiliation of Turkish statehood, the people and the government. The prosecutor's office's appeals are based on the latest statements and interviews made by Paylan to Turkish media.
"All these petitions, the whole campaign against me are exclusively based on my own statements to the media, made in my city- Diarbekir. Indeed, I did not like the tense situation, the suppression of any dissent, the servicemen and military equipment on the streets. Yes, I openly stated about this, but this by no means should become basis for using Article 301 against an opposition-minded lawmaker, "he said. In this light, the parliamentarian considers all recent steps of the authorities against him as an attempt to make him and other lawmakers keep silence about numerous violations of law and freedom of rights in Turkey. The most terrible and unacceptable in all this, he considers the "return" of the 301st article of the Turkish Criminal Code sadly remembered since the murder of Hrant Dink.
This petition is the second against Paylan. In December last year, the Office of the President of Turkey made a petition to deprive parliamentary immunity against eight parliamentarians. In addition to Paylan, the list included five of his party members, one lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party, and another from the opposition Republican People's Party. Another request for deprivation of immunity of 20 parliamentarians this time was received from the prosecutor's office last week. Former Adviser to the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan Arsen Kharatyan on his Facebook page urged the lawmakers of the National Assembly of Armenia of the new convocation on January 14 – immediately after officially taking office – make a joint statement in defense of Garo Paylan. "The Turkish state has been repressing against Paylan for a long time. The Armenian parliament which has an unprecedented legitimacy, should send a corresponding statement to the RA Foreign Ministry and instruct our diplomatic missions to take steps towards adopting resolutions condemning the processes in Turkey," Kharatyan called.
ArmInfo.The situation around the Karabakh conflict today is very difficult – despite the fact that there is no tension on the border; the Azerbaijani side does not intend to put up with the status quo. Director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan said this at a press conference on January 11.
According to him, the signals that come from Azerbaijan show that the expectations of the settlement of the Karabakh conflict are being poured into the society, and it is likely that they will be met. "I don't think that a large-scale war is possible in the near future, but I don't exclude the possibility of escalation," the political scientist emphasized.
ArmInfo. The situation around Russian gas gives yet another reason for the distrust of the current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Political scientist Aghasi Yenokyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo. On December 31, Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reported on the upcoming price hike for Russian gas for Armenia.
At the same time, he expressed confidence in maintaining domestic tariffs for consumers at the same level, in fact, at the expense of the Gazprom Armenia margin. Today, Gazprom's wholly- owned subsidiary sells gas to the population for $ 290 per thousand cubic meters. On the same day, Gazprom announced the gas price increase for Armenia at the border from $ 150 to $ 165 per thousand cubic meters.
"Even at the stage of implementing the Velvet Revolution, its leader Pashinyan promised society several times to reduce the existing domestic gas tariffs. Meanwhile, today he makes every effort to at least prevent them from increasing. And if he does not succeed, the increases in gas prices will the reason people don't trust his words and steps. I think that Pashinyan's position in gas negotiations with Putin leaves much to be desired, and if he wants to avoid another increase in the cost of gas and all related processes, he will have to understand certain concessions, "- he stressed.
At the same time, the political scientist expressed surprise at the lack of negotiations on the formation of a new gas price for Armenia, despite the fact that Yerevan was well aware of the expiration of the terms of the previous prices. "Gas negotiations began literally on New Year's Eve and today the parties are trying to reach some hasty agreements," Yenokyan said.
According to a political analyst, a similar background and timeline do not carry anything good to Armenia, since by doing so Moscow is able to bring a political component to purely gas negotiations, in other words, to draw out certain political concessions from Armenia in exchange for maintaining the same gas price.
Meanwhile, according to analysts of ArmInfo, even in the face of rising gas prices at the border to $ 165 per thousand cubic meters, there is a potential for lowering domestic tariffs. First of all, this is due to a significant decrease, if not complete leveling of corruption risks around gas pricing as a result of the same change of power in Armenia. In this regard, the new government, apparently, has already voiced its demands to the Russian company in the light of the changed rules of the game. And the material tax violations already identified as a result of recent inspections by Gazprom Armenia are the best confirmation of this. And, judging by the statement of Pashinyan and his spokesman about the invariance of domestic tariffs, these requirements are taken into account in one way or another by Gazprom. In this light, the increase in gas prices at the border seems to be the most acceptable compromise for both parties.
ArmInfo.Head of the State Control Service of Armenia, Davit Sanasaryan, evaluates the statements voiced by the Rector of Yerevan State University(YSU) Aram Simonyan on the eve of the New Year holidays "by manipulative and not confirmed facts." He stated this at a press conference on January 11. According to the head of the State Control Service, it is the actions of the management of the university that damage the authority of the educational institution, and not information about the abuses revealed by the Service.
According to him, the checks at the YSU revealed flagrant violations, but there can be no talk of political repression against the leadership of the university. "These statements are just manipulations from Simonyan," said Sanasaryan. The procurement process of 2.5 billion drams was studied at YSU. Checked the expenditure part of the income only leases. "We checked the data on payments for services rendered by the state university. Not even checks were carried out in the YSU branch in the city of Ijevan, the boarding houses of the university. It was important for us to get an idea of what is happening at YSU.
We do not place in question the authority of YSU, but we say that we will not allow unreasonably taking a single penny. Today's and past YSU students are well aware of what they are talking about, "Sanasaryan stressed. As the head of the department said, the beginning of the inspections was announced back in August 2018, and the inspections themselves have been carried out since October." We just wanted to check the state of affairs in Yerevan State University. And I have no personal problems with Simonyan. However, following the results of the inspections, we will definitely go to court, "Sanasaryan said. According to him, the law enforcement agencies will give a final assessment of the activities of the university management. Simonyan believes that the issue is related to his membership in the RPA. No matter who represents which party, the RPA, <Civil Contract> or other parties, all will respond according to the law, "Sanasaryan assured.
Now, as pointed out Sanasaryan, checks are carried out at the Medical University. "It is important for us to understand at what level the education process is," the head of the State Control Service emphasized. At the same time, according to him, the Service will conduct inspections in other state institutions.
Back in October 2018, the head of the State Control Service, David Sanasaryan, after a government meeting, told reporters that at Yerevan State University (YSU), abuses of at least 700 million AMD had been revealed. Sanasaryan described the abuses revealed in the main university of the country as "serious violations", "containing elements of a criminal offense". At the end of December, David Sanasaryan wrote on his Facebook page that the results of the inspections carried out at Yerevan State University during 2 months were transferred to the prosecutor's office. "According to our preliminary estimate, the fund was damaged in the amount of more than 800 million drams. I assure you that if we continue to study, it turns out that the amount of damage is much higher.
Details will be presented during a press conference soon", said David Sanasaryan. At the press conference, Aram Simonyan said that the Service had violated the law, and the main violation is that the checks are not over yet, and its head is already making "an absolutely unfounded statement, which refers to the abuse of 800 million drams." According to him, in the course of inspections and research activities were checked for more than 9.5 billion. They only expressed concern about the amount of 500 million, most of these are ridiculous and unfounded allegations made at a non-professional level, and the head of the service says about 800 million damage.
"This is done intentionally to discredit the YSU, its leadership, the activities of the university, to mislead the public for some purpose and try to fish in muddy water. What are the goals? It's hard for me to say, but it is obvious that this is done intentionally", the rector emphasized. "I also want to officially announce: we will appeal with the requirement of an appropriate legal assessment and file a lawsuit demanding compensation for the damage caused to us by the consequences of these statements of the Service and its manager, to restore our good reputation", Aram Simonyan pointed. David Sanasaryan responded to this statement on his Facebook page he wrote. "I watched the press conference of YSU Rector. Mr. Rector is either in a deep delusion or is trying to deceive the public. Our answer will be very painful."
To note, for more than 12 years, beginning in May 2006, occupying the post of YSU Rector Aram Simonyan has also been a member of the RPA, according to the official website of the party, for about 20 years, since 1998.