I Will Not Remove the Clocks for Baku and Ankara: Response from Public Radio Director

This morning, Alisa Gevorgyan, the mother of a soldier killed in the 44-day war and an employee of Public Radio, made the following post: "In the program 'Radiolur' of Public Radio, we will now also orient ourselves according to the time of Baku and Ankara: This was a wonderful 'gift' on the anniversary of the depopulation of Artsakh."

The appearance of clocks showing the time in Baku and Ankara at Public Radio has caused a significant uproar among the public. Armen Koloyan, the newly appointed director of Public Radio, stated in an interview with MediaHub: "It is my initiative; in all newsrooms around the world, there are numerous clocks that show the time of different cities in various countries. For instance, when we receive a message that a meeting is taking place in such and such city and it is noted that it is local time, people find it easier to orient themselves by looking at the clock and understanding that if it is a certain hour in Yerevan, it is a different hour in that city. That's all there is to it."

Koloyan also noted that he will not remove these clocks from the newsroom. "No, I will not remove them because they have informational significance. Those who see a special message in this, in my opinion, are inaccurately assessing the situation, because I believe we cannot assume that that city does not exist or that the city of the neighboring country does not exist. Yes, they are enemy cities, they exert pressure on us, but those cities do exist."

Koloyan is also unconcerned that, in fact, Yerevan does not exist in Baku and Ankara, and that those cities do not inform about the time in the Armenian capital. "I am not interested in what they do; I am interested in what I do. I have worked in an international radio center where the flags of all countries broadcasting in 23 languages are present, including Russia and Ukraine, which are currently in a fratricidal war, as well as Azerbaijan and Armenia, and that is a fact that no one can dispute because everyone understands that there are historical realities," Koloyan added.