The meeting of scandalous ballerina Anastasia Volochkova with Taron Margaryan, the mayor of Yerevan, is not only at the center of the discussions on social networks, but also the focus of the Russian mass media’s attention. One of the reasons is Volochkova’s exposing dress, according to Armenians’ perception, against the background of the confused face of Taron Margaryan who is considered as a modest and restrained person. During a conversation with www.aravot.am, sociologist Aharon Adibekyan stated that he saw nothing terrible in all that and uploading the sensational photo session of the mayor of Yerevan and Volovhkova on the official website of the City Hall was an ordinary and common PR trick, according to him. “Unfortunately, our people have a wrong perception of the mayor’s function – they think that the mayor is born to have the streets cleaned and have buildings renovated a bit. In reality, that function is wider, if we consider it in the context of what mayors of other capitals do. They are the main sponsors of all major film and concert festivals, because at the end of the day, all that is done for the residents of their cities. So there is an issue of PR. And besides, not Volochkova’s scandalous figure is important here, rather the delicate attitude of the Russian culture toward our mayor. There is nothing unusual, PR has one principle – it doesn’t matter what they say, it matters that they don’t forget and don’t pass by without paying attention,” the sociologist thinks.
In response to our question how serious uploading the photo session of the half-naked artist on the official website of the city hall was, Mr. Adibekyan said, “It means that our city hall has made a progress from the ancient, medieval state and perhaps, tomorrow it will allow homosexuals to organize a march, a festival or a movie contest. The world has been developing in that direction for a long time already. No matter how much we try to resist, we must at least show that we are not such ignorant, medieval creatures, but representatives of the modern world with certain limits. In the end, if Berlusconi or Sarkozy get married with such scandalous girlfriends, is it a problem that our mayor receives Volovhkova as a gesture of goodwill and is photographed with her and more importantly in his office, not somewhere else?”
Gohar HAKOBYAN
