Do You Understand What Happened: Ashotyan on the Optimization of Ministries

Republican Party Vice President Armen Ashotyan has addressed the issue of ministry optimization on his Facebook page.

The post states, in particular:

“1. The Ministry of Education and Science is a large ministry with immense responsibilities and countless functions, barely managing its tasks even with round-the-clock work. No new burden will be borne, regardless of personnel.

2. All countries that prioritize the preservation of national identity have a Ministry of Culture, especially those with significant cultural heritage or where culture also carries political implications due to history. No one in Greece, Italy, or Serbia would think to close their Ministry of Culture. In the context of the Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation, we have received a severe blow this year at UNESCO, where due to our inaction and dilettantism, the Azerbaijanis have been able to register their dance similar to Kochari, despite our efforts last year to have Kochari included in the list of intangible cultural heritage as a phenomenon of Armenian culture. The most dangerous moment in this story is that the Azerbaijanis have registered this dance, attention! As a regional dance of Nakhichevan. Do you understand what has happened?

3. The creation of a Ministry of Diaspora once served two main purposes:

• a. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was unable to adequately address the imperative of fully utilizing the potential of the Diaspora,
• b. It was also a serious message in foreign policy, especially given the challenges in Armenian-Turkish and Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

It is no coincidence that Azerbaijan, after us, is also trying to institutionalize its efforts in this area. It is clear that our current Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not be able to fully address the existing issues.

4. The optimization of the public administration system cannot be an end in itself. The social blow inflicted on thousands of people against the backdrop of dubious justifications and effectiveness of the lavish expenses carried out by today’s authorities has no relation to the declared goals.”