Today members of the Teghut Protection initiative group came to Gyumri to explain also to citizens of this town that the only way to rescue Armenia is through uniting the whole nation and struggling against illegalities.
One of the members of that group, Artur Grigoryan, started his speech as follows, “I want to emphasize that our fight is not a fight for trees and bushes, they blame us for that, as if we have left human – human is in such a difficult social condition and you have come and talk about some trees and bushes. At the end of the day, this is also for human, when one raises the issue of forests, he raises not only an issue of trees, but also an issue of exploiting natural resources in a rational and just way. E.g., mining – if one exploits his natural resources, 20% is gained by the government and 80% is put in private businessmen’s pocket. Moreover, 80% only by the numbers they show and in reality, the shadow economy, according to economists, is 4-5 times bigger than the numbers they show and it directly influences the ecology. For how long can they sell ore abroad, put 80% into their pockets and throw 20% leavings to the people.”
Another environmentalist, photographer Yeghia Nersisyan, added, “We should build the Armenia that, as Movses Gorgisyan used to say, blessed is the Armenia that will be tomorrow. We can build. We must change, we must do, neither the Cabinet, nor the establishment does anything. I was in Gyumri once in 2006 I wandered around the town this time too, I saw that the situation had worsened – a few statues, some elite hotels and some X elite sentiments have spread through our Armenia, when people are deprived of everything, are repressed through social conditions and are deprived of culture. Such a cultural town, as Gyumri is, shouldn’t be in this condition.”
One of the environmentalists that was in Gyumri for the first time was surprised, wandering around the town, with the poor condition of the town, the poor life conditions of the population, rotten shelters, therefore, the environmentalists asked a question what if they had built a factory in Gyumri, had produced ore and had paid normal wages to people and had rescued them from starvation, instead of putting the money gained from the mining industry in private businessmen’s pockets.
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Nune AREVSHATYAN
