Hayk Marutyan Takes Vacation, Hakob Karapetyan Clarifies

The spokesperson for the Mayor of Yerevan, Hakob Karapetyan, made a post on his Facebook page informing that Hayk Marutyan is in Yerevan and has not left the country during these days.

“The Mayor of Yerevan, Hayk Marutyan, has taken his regular vacation on March 10. Every employee has the right to 24 vacation days in a year. These 24 days can be taken all at once or in parts. In 2019, Mayor Marutyan used 14 of his entitled vacation days and has taken two additional unpaid vacation days (as they say, 'on his own account'). This is ordinary information, perhaps even unworthy of coverage.

However, gossip media wouldn’t be gossip media if they didn't weave intrigue from every simple fact, seasoning rumors with misinformation. For instance, one report claims that the mayor unexpectedly left the country with his family, another states that he went to the Czech Republic with friends, and a third makes unfounded conclusions based on these assertions, and so on.

Meanwhile, the mayor has not gone anywhere; he is in Yerevan with his family. The exit and entry of any individual, especially public figures, can be verified, and a professional journalist knows how this is done. But, as it seems, the issue for our colleagues is not to report reality but to spread rumors with varied nuances,” Karapetyan wrote, adding that council member Davit Khajakyan has