Books in three libraries in Etchmiadzin are being bundled up to be
taken to a kindergarten. There are no libraries for the books anymore,
because the Mayor’s Office decided to sell two libraries and turn a
third into a dance hall. The three libraries will become one, in the
kindergarten building.
The buildings of another two libraries will be sold as well and books
from them will be taken to other kindergartens. The city that had nine
libraries will soon have only four. The mayor had wanted to sell the
premises of the central library and the city’s museum of local history
as well, but had to abandon that thought later.
A former city employee says she was fired from her job because she opposed the library sellout.
Susanna Harutyunyan, who headed the joint education department of the
Mayor’s Office (kindergartens and libraries are subject to this
department), was dismissed from her position in August.
“In March the mayor decided to sell the libraries and it was then that
differences between us arose,” says Harutyunyan. “I was categorically
against the libraries being touched and did not allow it to happen. He
started to cut off electricity supply to the libraries, not to pay
telephone bills. In the end, he fired me to do his business.”
Harutyunyan filed a lawsuit claiming that she was wrongfully dismissed.
The lower court and the Court of Appeals both rule against her. Now
Harutyunyan says she is saying that the court was swayed because Mayor
Hrach Abgaryan is a close friend of Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan.
Abgaryan says that the sale of the libraries has nothing to do with the
dismissal and that Harutyunyan was relieved of her duties for
administrative violations.
“That woman should have been born a man, we made so many concessions,
but in the end it became impossible to work with her,” the mayor says.
Benik Shamiryan, who was appointed to succeed Harutyunyan, justifies
the sale of the libraries. He says that Harutyunyan was dismissed
because she is contrary.
“Whenever a day passed without her making a scandal it was a dead day for her,” Shamiryan says.
(The grounds for the dismissal are not convincing. For example one
claim is that last year, Harutyunyan was absent from work for five
days. Harutyunyan submitted a certificate that during those days she
was attending a seminar of UNICEF and the Ministry of Education. A
mayor’s office employee said that, in reality, Harutyunyan was fired
because she was independent).
Abgaryan says that the libraries were not operating and hardly had one
or two readers borrowing books, and consequently they decided to sell
them.
However, the libraries’ staffs tell a different story. The library
named after poet Vachagan Hovhannisyan, which was established in the
city’s house of culture in 1953, has 2,000 readers every year. It also
serves the nearby districts. There are 34,000 books in the library (no
library in Etchmiadzin has received a single book since 1993). When the
library staff were bundling up the books two young people were
returning the books they had borrowed, but could no longer borrow new
ones. Another reader was helping the workers with the packing.
The new location is half the size of the former one and manager Ashkhen
Terteryan, who has worked at library for 30 years, hopes that in
consolidating into a smaller place the library will not lose readers.
Contrary to Mayor’s Office claims that the libraries are unused, the
Tumanyan Library for Children has about 1,000 users of its 32,000
books. The new location is too small for all the books. Staff members
are sure that they will lose readers.
The Aghayan Children’s Library is in another part of the city: “My
children use this library, it is very bad that it is being relocated,”
says a woman who watched the staff packing. The library has 730
readers, 29,000 books: “Conditions here are very good, and there they
give us little space and there will not be enough room to contain all
the books,” says Seda Petrosyan, who has managed the library for 22
years. The library has a history of 50 years, first it was situated in
a small place, and 30 years ago was relocated here, to more spacious
premises, in order to improve that situation. Now it goes back to a
smaller space. Staff member Jemma Zakaryan shows albums with
photographs of Paruyr Sevak, Silva Kaputikyan and other writers who had
visited the library. The history of the library will be lost after its
shutdown.
The staffs of the three libraries are full of fear and hide their
discontent. “The situation is very bad, but we are all afraid to speak
out, for they can fire us from our jobs,” one of them says.
Abgaryan says that the territories of the libraries are being sold in
order to make up for budget deficits. “It’s the end of the year and we
have serious financial problems,” the mayor says.
The libraries will be sold at a price of 5,000-7,000 drams per square
meter, a library that has about 150 square meters of space will be sold
for about $2,000, which is 10 times below the current market price.
Those opposing the deal suspect that the property will end up in the
hands of officials. According to reports, one library will be bought by
the mayor himself through a figurehead, another one will be bought by a
member of the city administration.
During the last two years the Mayor’s Office has privatized the
buildings of three kindergartens. One was bought by General Manvel
Grigoryan’s nephew, one by the Prime Minister’s nephew. The mayor
presented part of the other kindergarten’s building to himself and then
repaired it and turned into a private sport school.
Abgaryan justifies the sale of the kindergartens, saying that they were not functioning.
“The Zvartnots kindergarten had stayed idle for 10 years, another one
had not been functioning either, and still the other one had only 20
children attending it,” says Abgaryan. He admits that the last
kindergarten was sold with violations of the law, since the National
Assembly prohibited the sale of kindergartens by its decision this
year. He considers the sport school, where for a small fee (1,500 drams
a month, $3) young boys and girls can get physical training, to be an
indicator of the city’s development.
The kindergartens were also sold at several times below the market price.
For example, the two-storied building of the last kindergarten, which
has an area of 19,042 square meters, was sold for 7.9 million drams
(about $15,800), which is the price of a 50-square-meter apartment in
Etchmiadzin.
Abgaryan had also wanted to sell the museum of local history, which is
also situated in one of the busiest parts of the city, but had to
postpone that deal after it aroused a great deal of controversy. He
says that if he sells the territory the museum will not disappear but
will be relocated to another place.