Do You Understand the Current State of Lake Sevan and Who Holds Its Fate? Vahagn Varaghyan

Vahagn Varaghyan, a member of the "Green Future" environmental organization, commented on the press conference of the acting Minister of Environment via a Facebook post.

"Did you see the acting Minister of Environment's press conference? I lament for Sevan, I lament for the environment. Do you understand the current state of Sevan and who holds its fate? These people can't even organize a proper press conference. It could have been beneficial to clarify the weather conditions, or was it more convenient to gloss over it and move on? This was not a press conference; it was mockery of a press conference. In response to the question of whether there are other inquiries, the minister's spokesperson said, 'Keep it somewhere, someone is coming down,' and added, 'Is it possible to tell the sailor to drive a bit faster?'

If we talk about professional questions, the minister's spokesperson insists that there are no spatial restrictions for swimming, and regarding the pike, he mentions that there is no quantitative issue. To the question of whether the fish poses a danger to human health at this time, he answers, 'No, no, it's not dangerous,' adding that no research has been conducted and that conducting it is quite complicated. One questions arise—on what basis do you deny the harmfulness of fish while planning to send it to the army?

Moreover, regarding the cleaning of areas, it was noted that out of the planned 750 hectares, only about 150 hectares have been cleaned. When a journalist raised concerns about whether it would be possible to clean another 600 hectares in such a short time frame, the minister's spokesperson replied, 'We need to make it so that we can finish,' and the journalist continued, 'What if it doesn't happen?' To this, the minister's spokesperson replied, 'We need to make it so that it doesn’t end up not happening.' In short—irresponsible platitudes.

And so, from the press conference regarding the three-year life of Sevan's swampification processes, what do we note? All questions are still under discussion, negotiation, and documentation phases, with no real processes being implemented at this time.

What do we have at this moment?

1. A swampy Sevan.
2. Decreasing fish stocks and fish species on the verge of extinction.
3. Unlimited quantities of cyanobacteria.
4. Officials who cannot distinguish between bacteria and plants from algae.

This is not a mere disgrace; it is a catastrophe, simply a catastrophe," Varaghyan wrote.