Commenting on President Serzh Sargsyan’s statement at a press conference that the main reason for emigration was the negative atmosphere, that people didn’t see any light and didn’t have any hope, because two TV channels and tens of print and electronic information agencies had talked only about bad things for many years, Aram Harutyunyan, a candidate for president, said: “I don’t agree. That negative atmosphere is caused by the government and not by TV channels. On the contrary, they present Armenia very positively. If, by saying two TV channels, Serzh Sargsyan meant Yerkir Media and Kentron, then perhaps they present the situation somewhat objectively, but the main TV channels that are managed by 26 Baghramyan present our country very positively. However, the people see the reality. At present, there are people who participated in the war, are disabled, and have no income, and that is why they don’t leave here; I mean, if they have a possibility, they will leave too.” In Harutyunyan’s words, if anyone saw light or had hope here, it wouldn’t matter what bad things the mass media showed, they wouldn’t leave, anyway. “Emigration is caused by the government’s policy and that negative atmosphere too. It is a fact that courts are not independent these days, the economy is in an awful condition, and the government is to blame for this,” Harutyunyan stated, adding that the government, Serzh Sargsyan has to blame first of all himself and his inner circle, since not only the ordinary citizen, but also the businessman is presently discontent, and that is why they move their businesses to Georgia. Continuing to comment on Serzh Sargsyan’s statement “When we become the Chess Olympiad winners, they say it is a coincidence. When we win football matches, beat strong teams one after another, they say it was luck. Whatever one does, it is luck or a coincidence,” Harutyunyan said the following: “Serzh Sargsyan attributes to himself also Levon Aronyan’s victory and the goals scored by Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Or perhaps he stresses chess and soccer, because it is theirs. What does Serzh Sargsyan have to do with the goal scored by Mkhitaryan, or Aronyan’s victory over Ivanchuk, every one of us is happy, who says bad things about these people, but why isn’t he concerned about the fact that ‘Ararat 73’ is erased from archives, there is no information about these soccer players?”
Eva HAKOBYAN
