Yesterday Tigran Urikhanyan, a Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) MP, raised a question in the National Assembly that MPs were not able to buy a high-quality jacket, they are not presentable, there were no necessary items in the National Assembly – a printer, a pen, a table, a chair, an armchair. Talking about the moral and psychological atmosphere in the National Assembly, he stated, “During the discussion on the 2012 budget, we conditionally called it expenses to preserve MPs’ nerves, with regard to which you stated that it should be included in 2013. I understand that we have a survival budget, that the salary of an MP has not been enough for a long time to buy a high-quality jacket, in which we will not be ashamed of, say, an Azerbaijani delegation while participating in an international meeting. I understand that this is an institution, in which I have heard for the first time in my life that one should bring a table and a chair, a book, a pen, a printer etc. with him, but pinning hopes on the new era of your tenure and respectively also on qualitative changes, I, nonetheless, would like to ask whether they have been provided for or not.” Is a jacket supposed to make an MP handsome? www.aravot.am asked this question during a conversation with humorists. Humorist Samvel Baghdasaryan said during a conversation with us, “There is no denying, a suit may do that too. Clothes should suit a person too. However, they must manage with that salary. There are people with lower salary who can dress correctly, be more presentable.” We inquired whether it was such an important national issue to be discussed in the parliament of the country, S. Baghdasaryan replied that the citizen didn’t look in that direction, he had already gained immunity to different issues.
Humorist Mkrtich Arzumanyan (Mko) replied, “Certainly, the suit is also important, but first of all, the MP must do what he must do. He should do what he has been elected for and not think of a good suit. It is his business whether he wears a suit or not.”
As for why the issue of an MP’s jacket had reached the parliament, Mkrtich Arzumanyan said half in jest, half in earnest, “Perhaps, they have discussed all the issues, only that one is left. It is a serious issue for the country.”
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As for whether Mko’s salary was enough to buy a good jacket, he said during a conversation with us, “I am not an MP yet, when I am an MP, I will tell you whether it is enough or not.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
