The New Year LED decorations in different communities of Yerevan – trees, pegasi, on which the City Hall spent 20 million drams – have caused strong criticism on social networks. www.aravot.am talked with Vahagn Khachatryan, a former mayor of Yerevan and a member of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), today. In his words, “I have a principle, I don’t want to talk about my colleagues, assess the current mayor and the others. I allowed myself to criticize the former mayor regarding a certain issue only once. I am not talking about
extravagance here; I just want to talk about this ugliness, repulsiveness and tastelessness, as a citizen of Yerevan.”
The question is not whether it is extravagant or not. It could have been much more extravagant; it is an issue of taste. One could have done more interesting things for less money. However, the current situation, believe me, is a lack of taste. A lot of people don’t like it, because such decorations are usually made in places, where one needs them. There is a need for landscaping in Yerevan, but in the place, where they put those, there is no need for landscaping. Why did they need to bring artificial trees? It was fashionable at the beginning of the 1990s, when Armenians used to bring artificial trees from the Arab World, but afterwards, it was out of fashion. There were such things in our homes too. Those decorations have been removed even from restaurants, and now, if they put flowers, they put fresh flowers. There was no need for that.
Read also
“And it is not about unnecessary expenses or extravagance. I can just say that the person, who deals with that issue, is responsible for that, hasn’t found his niche. He is probably Yerevan’s painter or designer. Let’s not connect this with the mayor’s expenses.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
