“Don’t say ‘if’, when you speak about Garegin Nzhdeh” (video)
Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan has a very positive opinion on the statue of Garegin Nzhdeh unveiled today, “I am proud of installing Garegin Nzhdeh’s statue in the heart of Yerevan. As for the appearance of the statue, which has been much discussed recently, I disagree with those opinions; every person has his opinion and listening to the sculptor, what kind of character he saw, I can understand that he can see the character of Nzhdeh in this way. It is important that Nzhdeh has his place in Yerevan.” In reply to the question whether the statue mustn’t have been installed at Garegin Nzhdeh Square, where the statue of Soviet figure Suren Spendaryan is placed, Taron Margaryan disagreed, “When the square was named after Garegin Nzhdeh, there had already been a statue. We planned, established a committee dealing with the issue of installation of Garegin Nzhdeh’s statue in 2015 and tender was announced. Decision was made to place the statue in this park. For the installation of Nzhdeh’s statue this park was reconstructed still in 2013.” To the remark that Garegin Nzhdeh’s statue was installed just in the park near Republic Square on purpose, because the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) office is also situated in this territory, the Mayor noted, “I think that there are offices of various parties in this territory and the HHK office has no connection with this area. The statue was installed near Hanrapetutyan Street, in this renovated park.” In reply to the question whether Taron Margaryan spoke to architect Levon Igityan and urged him not to speak about this or that old building of Yerevan using inappropriate vocabulary, the Mayor answered, “Every person has his opinion, Levon Igityan is also honored citizen of Yerevan and has long path behind him, I respect it. As for his definitions about this or that building, it is simply his professional opinion. Those rude expressions aren’t addressed to Yerevan, they relate only to a certain local building. All specialists have their own opinion, me for example, I don’t think so.” In reply to journalist’s question, if Garegin Nzhdeh was alive, how he would assess the activities of the HHK, Taron Margaryan answered, “Don’t say ‘if’, when you speak about Garegin Nzhdeh.”
