Yerevan mayor Hayk Marutyan notified “Hraparak”, “Hayeli” and some other news agencies that the Yerevan community refuses from gratuitous use agreements on no residential area signed with them, explaining the necessity of using these territories more effectively.
The municipality, which is known for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a Christmas tree, for buying garbage trucks with obviously high prices, spending about $ 1 million for awards, suddenly decides to use the community’s resources effectively, and the media was the first to suffer. It is difficult to believe that the coins gained from the newspapers can play a significant role for the municipality which is used to luxury.
These territories were once provided to the media by the community as a state support for en establishment of free media. For the current government that came to power with the help of media, free press is no longer valuable and can be treated with all severity of bureaucracy.
This step of a mayor should be unwillingly considered within the framework of the war declared against media by the authorities as a legally disputable and politically and morally reprehensible decision.
The “Media Advocate” initiative strongly condemns the mayor’s decision and calls for revision. Such an approach to press is inappropriate for the authorities who came to power with the help of democratic slogans.
