Recently Yerevan periodically becomes a theme and topic of public rumors and conversations because of several reasons. First is what’s happening to our capital. After almost 40-year stability of architecture in Yerevan it has started it rapidly change. Secondly after the 40-year stability the structure of the city people is also being changed. All these processes created certain temptation among the authorities and the experts to invest novelties in the city. Suggestions are different. By using the dialect of Soviet times the processes proceeding “around the city and in the vicinity” don’t leave anyone indifferent – neither the Yerevan residents, nor the marz residents and nor the Diaspora. Most of the specialists believe that at present the capital city of Armenia has a negative impression on the public. Ethicist Mkhitar Gabrielyan thinks that “The capital city in the other areas of Armenia is considered a unit, which thinks only about itself and spends all the resources on its development.” All the others, who live further Yerevan, think that all the spiritual and material resources are used only in Yerevan. Besides swallowing the resources Yerevan has put hands on anything and everything going on in this country. Even the lowest positions of local governments are consented with Yerevan. According to Gabrielyan, that’s the reason why Yerevan is perceived as a independent autonomous body compared to other marzes of the country. This perception of Yerevan is not a result of recent processes. It’s been many years since the times we launched creating this image. A few decades ago our wishes were wide-scale. We were planning to make Armenia the substitute of not 29 thousand sq./m republic but the whole Great Armenia. The evidence of that are the names of the neighborhoods of the city – Kilikia, Zeytun, Arabkir. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Yerevan became the substitute of Moscow center. Tourists visiting Armenia suffice only by sightseeing Yerevan. If not considering the visits to Echmiadzin and Geghard then the tourists hardly ever go anywhere else but the city. There is no infrastructures serving them beyond Yerevan. In the result of this marred picture of social-economic conditions a feeling of “revenge” is being born to the capital city. About 40 years ago the Soviet Armenian government conducted a policy of growing population in the city. The purpose was to build a subway in the capital. Only cities with one million population were allowed to have subway. After taking the necessary permission from Moscow Armenia was closed to migration. City culture and lifestyle has been formed over the course of a few decades. But it drastically was destroyed in the result of demographic processes of the 90s. About 1/25 of the population has officially migrated from Armenia. The majority of migrants, about 75%, were of city population. This information is provided by ethicist, Aghasi Tadevosyan. In his opinion in the result of the migration 1991-1996 the composition of youth has rapidly transformed in the capital. The migration of the capital young people was followed by the migration of your people from marzes and villages.
“The spontaneity of the process within the short period caused the origination of certain cultural contradictions among the youth of the city and the ones from marzes. The provincial youth having not been able to adapt to the city culture has started to spread its provincial low quality values in the city,” thinks the expert.
The Diaspora Armenians also have their investment in the “provincialization” process of the capital. This is a slightly “softer” topic and our experts have done a thorough analysis on this. Most of the repatriates, who start new businesses or new life here mostly prefer Yerevan. In this background the recommendations of splitting the city into smaller administrative units, seem mildly said strange. The level of urbanization is provided by the cities and most of the culture of European states are concentrated in the larger cities. And the only option in terms of a megalopolis is Yerevan.