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Press Review


“Chorrord Inknishkhanutyun” describes the reopening of a Yerevan indoor market after a controversial redevelopment as a ‘crushing victory’ for pro-government tycoon Samvel Aleksanian, who, it says, “has defeated the society, the municipality, the Ministry of Culture and, ultimately, the Armenian laws.” “The problem, of course, is not Samvel Aleksanian and even not whether the market known as Pak Shuka was an outstanding piece of Armenian architecture or not, whether its architectural form has been ruined or not or whether the law has been broken in the process or not. It is more important from the point of view of human dignity. The society must not allow anyone to get rich at its expense only to mock at it later,” the daily writes.

On the same subject “Haykakan Zhamanak” writes: “Pak Shuka has been completely ruined and no longer has any value as a piece of architecture. To be more precise, it is as valuable as Aleksanian’s other supermarkets in the city. Pak Shuka’s value was in its open space solution achieved due to huge arches… but now the territory has been divided into sections and squares. The first thing that comes to your mind when you enter the market today is that it would be just the same if the building had completely been razed to the ground and something else had been built in its place.”

“Zhoghovurd”, meanwhile, refers to the fate of another architectural landmark of Armenia – the old building of Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport. “One of the best architectural buildings of Armenia that once won an award in Paris will be demolished. The owner of Armenia International Airports CJSC, Argentine-Armenian Eduardo Eurnekian is going to destroy what once was an object of pride for Armenians. He thinks that the building cannot be operated safely. But Dmitry Adbashian, the former head of the Public Council Committee for Civil Aviation, is categorically against the plans to demolish the round-shaped tower.” “If so, let them go and destroy the cathedral in Echmiadzin. It’s older, isn’t it? So what if it is an old building? Does that mean it should be destroyed?” said Adbashian, according to the paper.

“168 Zham” focuses on the continuing discussions on the differences in the statements of President Serzh Sarkisian and Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian regarding when and how much the salaries of public sector employees will be raised. While President Sarkisian suggested in August that salaries will be doubled and the rise will be effective on January 1, 2014, late last month Prime Minister Sarkisian said that the actual rise will be from July 1, 2014 and will amount to only 40 percent. “The public explanation of this difference is that the government is unable to fulfill the president’s promise. But it is a very simple explanation. President Sarkisian spoke about very specific figures and could not make such statements without specific estimations, which, one has to assume, had been provided by the government itself. Perhaps the date when Sarkisian made the statement, August 28, could provide the clue. At that time it did not cross anyone’s mind that Armenia could fail its negotiations with the EU over the Association Agreement and join the Customs Union. The initialing of the Association Agreement would be followed by a conference of donors who would pledge up to $1.5 billion Euros in financial assistance to Armenia.”

(Tigran Avetisian)
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