From September 11 to 20, 2020, the “Media Advocate” initiative followed online media reports on the Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, Gagik Tsarukyan’s personality and activities.
35 leading Armenian news agencies have been monitored. In the specified period, 498 articles were declared, 85 of which were negative, 90 were positive and 323 were neutral.
Both positive and negative articles were published on Gagik Tsarukyan. Positive articles prevail.
RA Deputy Minister of Health Artyom Smbatyan referred to the statement of PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan, according to which the expenses for medical care for coronavirus disease are a great burden for our citizens: “It is surprising that Gagik Tsarukyan himself had a coronavirus disease, during the treatment of which he received medical care in a hospital, for which he did not make any payment at all.”
Political scientist Suren Surenyants, referring to the above-mentioned answer to Gagik Tsarukyan, wrote the following on his Facebook page: “The deputy minister, in fact, leaving his main duties, referred to Gagik Tsarukyan’s speech in Ajapnyak yesterday with immediacy typical of a police officer (it would have been better if the management of the Ministry of Health had fought against the coronavirus with such operativeness, instead of standing in line at Nikol’s door with hypocrisy).”
The other day, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, referring to Gagik Tsarukyan’s post, mocked, saying: “Does Gagik Tsarukyan know how to write?” After this expression, some politicians and Facebook users criticized Nikol Pashinyan, supporting Gagik Tsarukyan and, noting that the political discourse should not be reduced to the street level. In response to Nikol Pashinyan, pictures of the coalition agreement were posted on Facebook, in which Nikol Pashinyan and Gagik Tsarukyan may be seen. They ask a question: “Did the Civil Contract think the same way even after signing a coalition agreement?”
Speaking to reporters, PAP MP Arman Abovyan, referring to RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement on Gagik Tsarukyan, whether he knows how to write, said that he does not want to comment on absurd statements: “Unfortunately, we see that the Prime Minister and the authorities do not have a substantive response to the issues raised by Mr. Tsarukyan. Today we see what we see: the political discourse has turned into nonsense.”
According to media reports, “PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan visited the town of Vedi in the Ararat region within the framework of his regional visits. Tsarukyan once again criticized the authorities, accusing them of overthrowing the economic, social and educational policies and failing to govern the country. However, he was not able to clearly state how he is going to fight against that government, or when he would finally implement the idea of the protest mentioned by him.”
Gagik Tsarukyan was criticized by several deputies of the “My Step” alliance.
Prosperous Armenia fraction MP Arman Abovyan wrote on his Facebook page: “I naively thought that people who hold high positions should have at least an elementary ability to reason a little, but as we see, it does not refer to Minister Harutyunyan for example. Instead of voluntarily resigning and praying to his “gods” so that people would soon forget him, he tried again to show his indecency and the internal complexes, in short, he tried to refer to Gagik Tsarukyan again.”
The publication was prepared with the support of “Hayrenik” Development Foundation
