Romanos Petrosyan Demands a Retraction

The Minister of Environment of Armenia and former governor of Kotayk, Romanos Petrosyan, has submitted a demand for a retraction on his Facebook page. He stated, "In response to the article published on the News.am news portal titled 'The friend of Romanos Petrosyan’s wife entered the school accompanied by police. Teachers left the school,' I find it necessary to clarify the following in order to put an end to the subsequent unwarranted speculations: the information published regarding my alleged connection with the newly appointed director of Abovyan High School, Karmile Arakelyan, is untrue and defamatory. I officially deny this information and declare that Karmile Arakelyan has no friendship, family, or kinship ties with either me or my wife. Therefore, in accordance with Article 8 of the Law on Mass Media of the Republic of Armenia, I demand a proper retraction of the material published by you; otherwise, I will appeal to the court for defamation and tarnishing my reputation.

Additionally, I find it important to emphasize that both in the Republic and in the Kotayk region, the management councils of schools operate effectively, fulfilling their supervisory functions as mandated by their duties. Thus, the phenomena mentioned by you cannot occur in the process of selecting school directors. There is a dismantling of the entrenched status quo in the field of public education, replaced by the guarantee of the supremacy of the law and the right to equality. In the last 2-2.5 years, a significant reform has begun with changes in the management councils, particularly involving the governor, the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, and representatives of communities. Currently, the councils are effectively functioning within the framework of their legislative powers and obligations, carrying out supervisory functions on a public basis. As a result of these reforms, the members of the management councils have changed, allowing a new generation to access schools where directors had been re-elected for decades. Today, citizens are realizing their rights and vision in the field of public education through the application of legally established tools, as parents, as educators, and as citizens of the Republic of Armenia with legal rights."

— Romanos Petrosyan, Minister of Environment of the Republic of Armenia