“This is vandalism, it means that everyone can do what he wants in this country. If it occurs to someone to build a supermarket in the Opera’s place, no one will interfere,” Stepan Safaryan, a member of the Heritage Party, stated during a conversation with www.aravot.am.
He participated in the rally organized by a set of NGOs to protect the Covered Marketplace in the vicinity of it.
Talking about the architectural value of the Covered Marketplace, S. Safaryan remarked, “Such an attitude of the state bodies toward the Covered Marketplace as an architectural, historical and cultural value is unacceptable. I remember the terrible response given by the Minister of Culture in the National Assembly that one should be engaged in trade under the conditions of the 21st century. I can tell such people only one thing ‘keep your hands off such values. You have already built a lot of cities in Yerevan, you have nothing to do with this monument.’”
Read also
S. Safaryan thinks it is significant that all this is done after the election and underlines, “It seems there is no Cabinet and there will be a new Cabinet, the Minister of Urban Development is from the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and he is a resigning minister at the moment. Actually there is very weak ministerial supervision at the moment.”
Mr. Safaryan thinks that what has happened is a crime and he applied to the Police of the Republic of Armenia. He assures that he will continue struggle for the marketplace. In response to a question whether they would struggle against Samvel Alexanyan who was supported by the government and who wanted to build the biggest Yerevan City supermarket in the place of the marketplace, S. Safaryan said the following, “The target at the moment is not him, but state bodies represented by the Minister of Culture, the mayor of Yerevan, members of the Cabinet. It is obvious that no statement has been made in regard to yesterday’s fuss either, whereas competent bodies had to condemn.”
Let us note that police officers were around the Covered Marketplace today to enforce law and order and the citizens gathered to protect the Covered Marketplace said that the police had better enforce law and order on persons that had been dismantling the Covered Marketplace since yesterday.
Activists gathered to protect the Covered Marketplace, whereas residents of the neighboring buildings confronted the activists, rebuking them for impeding and not allowing reconditioning the marketplace and them to have a job. They observed that it had been “a garbage spot and a source of cholera.”
S. Safaryan gave the following assessment to what had happened, “Actually, the government is realizing its scenario of making one part of the citizens confront the other. And if the situation is like that, let the issue be put to a referendum and the residents of Yerevan decide.”
The activists informed www.aravot.am that they would continue staying in the vicinity of the Covered Marketplace as long as it was necessary to be treated “kindly” by functionaries.
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
