2 Quick Questions to the Honorable Members of the CP Executive Body by MP Edgar Arakelyan

MP Edgar Arakelyan from the ‘My Step’ faction of the National Assembly wrote on his Facebook page:

“Two quick questions to the honorable members of the CP executive body, who claim that by giving a green light to Lydian, the government is merely implementing its own declaration (direct quote from the Prime Minister’s speech on July 6 in the image):

1. Does the organization selected last autumn meet the criteria of having ‘an irrefutable reputation’, not to mention whether it is international or simply foreign?
2. Have you all read that conclusion (and not relied on the claims of others, mostly those who haven’t read it) and confirmed that the operation of the mine is safe for ‘Lake Sevan, the waters of Jermuk, and the watershed area’?

And here’s a bonus question that follows up on the second: You say that we are not specialists and therefore rely on the decision of the Investigative Committee, which states that ‘no evidence has been found regarding the intentional concealment of information related to the environmental pollution caused by Lydian Armenia, and there are no grounds for initiating a criminal case,’ therefore, if those grounds do not exist, does it imply that the operation of the mine is safe and the risks are manageable (I’m simplifying a bit here)?

Even at this moment, I don’t want to discuss whether the investigator or the team of investigators has read and correctly interpreted the conclusion of ‘Elard’ or whether they are the ‘specialists’ whose comment we must unconditionally trust when making political decisions on this extremely important issue. The question here is entirely different: does the fact that there is no criminal element in Lydian’s actions automatically mean that the mine can be operated and we can be at ease regarding the consequences? By the same logic, isn’t Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum, which has often been cited by some of our colleagues in recent days, committing any crime as defined by the criminal code while exploiting the mine for decades, and doesn’t it cause less devastation or harm to the environment without committing any crimes?”

For now, that’s all.