Claims We Should Refuse to Pay 1000 Dram Contributions for Soldiers: New Revelation from Former Employee of Ioannisian

Rafael Afrikyans, an employee of the Public Relations and Information Center, who previously worked with Daniel Ioannisian, the coordinator of the Civic Initiative ‘Informed Citizens’, has made a new revelation about Ioannisian.

“You will remember the 1000 dram bill and the kind of propaganda that was going on against the concept of Nation-Army. Now, thanks to that foundation, hundreds, if not thousands, of disabled former servicemen are receiving financial assistance. The Nation-Army concept in public consciousness was generally remembered as three main changes: the 'I Have Honor' and 'I Am' programs, the abolishment of conscription deferral, and the 1000 dram law. The lobbyist-propagandist was simultaneously campaigning against the three modifications. But I will speak about the propaganda against the 1000 drams,” he stated.

The more liberal segment of civil society openly declared, 'I pay taxes to this state, why should I pay an additional 1000 drams for a deceased or disabled soldier?' This propaganda campaign forced Vigen Sargsyan to resort to a trick called 'voluntary'. Initially, it was announced that the payment of the 1000 drams would become voluntary, and after some time, it turned into a mandatory payment. During those days, we held a meeting with the entire staff of the NGO, discussing whether or not to pay these 1000 drams. Daniel insisted that the entire staff should write an application and refuse to make those payments. The justification was the same: Vigen wants to militarize Armenian society, and our task is to promote the thesis of peace, and so on.

In the end, only two of us disagreed during the discussion: myself and another employee. We stated that we wanted to make those payments, to which we were told that the organization would not prepare to pay that amount because the donors would not like it. We agreed that the 1000 drams would be deducted from our salaries, and even requested to deduct 2000 drams instead and transfer it to the fund. By the way, in one of the screenshots, it can be seen that the lobbyist-propagandist stated that a significant portion of the new weapons received from the Russian Federation cannot be used by Armenia in Artsakh. I would suggest journalists seek his comment on this topic regarding which weapons were being referred to,” Afrikyans wrote on his Facebook page.