Who Are the Responsible Parties for the Surmalu Trade Center Fire?

The newspaper "Zhoghovurd" reports: "Since midday on August 14, the fire at the Surmalu Trade Center has shocked the entire country, and now the question remains in the air: why did this happen, and whose negligence allowed the explosives depot to be located in the center of Yerevan without adherence to safety regulations?

Of course, after the incident, the authorities began to justify themselves by stating that the area had been fined for not observing safety regulations. In particular, Yerevan's Mayor Hrachya Sarkisyan hastened to 'justify' through one of the council members that specialists from the fire and technical safety department of Yerevan's territorial division conducted an inspection from March 9 to 16, 2021, and found more than ten different types of violations of fire safety regulations in the area.

It turns out that the report of violations and the order were written merely to have something on paper, and due to unclear motives (or perhaps the application of corrupt mechanisms); in the course of a year, not only were the violations not rectified, but no further inspections were carried out by the inspection body to assess the situation in the high fire risk zone and the extent to which people's lives were in danger in areas where people work or conduct trade.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Urban Development, Technical and Fire Safety attempted to mitigate the situation and exonerate his direct superior Gegham Shahbazyan from responsibility, but it resulted in worse outcomes: he inadvertently placed the entire agency's operations under suspicion. It turns out that this body lacks sufficient human resources to check whether the violations noted in its report had been addressed over the course of a year.

So, who are the specific responsible parties for the created situation? Firstly, the employees of the State Urban Development, Technical and Fire Safety Inspection who have done nothing for a year and have not carried out any inspections, despite having been allocated a bonus of 250 million drams for this year’s work. The head of this body is Gegham Shahbazyan, who is active in distributing bonuses but, as it turns out, exhibited inaction for a whole year.

The other responsible party is, naturally, the owner of the trade center, Razmik Zakaryan, who, according to media reports, requested a postponement on the timeline for rectifying the violations 'considering that the company comprises numerous trade and public catering entities'. This is where the most intriguing part begins: one of Yerevan's wealthiest people requested something verbally from Gegham Shahbazyan or his employees, which was fulfilled. There are evident suspicions of corrupt mechanisms that law enforcement must clarify. Why? Because this 'request' from a year ago cost human lives.

The State Urban Development Committee, represented by Armen Ghulyan, is also silent. Has this official ever entered the Surmalu or nearby trade centers, or is he aware of the serious urban development issues that make even fleeing on foot impossible in case of a fire? Inaction.

The Yerevan City Hall also has its share of the blame through the relevant department and represented by Yerevan’s Mayor Hrachya Sarkisyan. Ultimately, the entire chain of inaction has led to the loss of human lives, and we still have more than ten missing individuals."
Read the full article in today's issue of Zhoghovurd newspaper.