The president of Armenia’s Union of Deaf People gets elected for a two-year term.
This year marks the end of the union president Zhora Varagyan’s term. According to the UDP charter, the six union branches (two in Yerevan, and one in Gyumri, Vanadzor, Martuni and Agarak) must hold conferences, elect a deputy team, hold a convention during which the deputy team will select members for the plenary session and the participants of the plenum will confirm the presidential staff. Then, the staff will elect a president. However, members of the union have split up after the conferences held by the branches. The oppositionists blame the head of the branch for messing around with UDP belongings and for falsifying the elections of the deputy team. According to leader of the oppositionist Partev Muradyan, there are 120 UDP members of which 17 have taken part in the elections on October 14 and they have voted for five deputies who will take part in the conference being held on October 28th. “This is an evident violation of the UDP charter,” says P. Muradyan. Even though P. Muradyan does not have any hearing defects, however, he is a member of the UDP because he has worked for the union for many years. In September, the UDP administration has cancelled his membership, reasoning that he has not paid the membership fee for two years, as stated in the charter.
“Nobody has paid membership fees since 2000, however, they forgave the rest. But they kicked me out by telling me that I could hear and they couldn’t. Basically, they only wanted to remove the people they did not like because there is no difference between talking and silent members in the charter,” says P. Muradyan. It is no surprise that no opposing deputy got elected during the deputy elections. If we go along with what the opposition leader is saying, we can say that he is not running for union president (as a matter of fact, according to the charter, only a union member with hearing problems and a good education can be elected president). We must mention the fact that this 70-year old structure has taken care of its expenses and a pretty rich union during the Soviet Union. It has had 6 conglomerates. “We have built and granted the state a nose-throat-ear hospital with the four month profit received from the companies. Currently, the hospital is privatized and not even one member has the right to be treated at the hospital with discounts,” says vice president of the UDP Zh. Gevorgyan. Two of the six conglomerates are located in Yerevan. The first floor of the #1 conglomerate in Yerevan and the one in Martuni has been sold, the one in Vanadzor has been transferred and a decision has already been made to sell the Agarak conglomerate. The reason for alienating the Martuni conglomerate has to do with the accumulative debts and the status of the building, which has deteriorated after being abandoned for such a long time. The Vanadzor conglomerate has been exchanged for a hostel and one part of the hostel has been given for rent. The Vanadzor conglomerate has taken care of its union members’ problems with funding homes with the remainder of the money. The first floor of the conglomerate in Yerevan has been alienated by a member of the UDP. The member takes on the responsibility of producing and creating places where his fellow members can work. The Agarak conglomerate is on the verge of collapsing. “There is more than 25 million worth in taxes,” says owner of the Agarak conglomerate R. Chakhoyan. “Last year the wind blew the roof of the building and we can’t remodel it. I have asked our department for help I am no longer able to take care of the building by myself. The Agarak conglomerate will be sold because the administration fears that the debts will be accumulated and finally exceed the actual price of the conglomerate in the years to come. The only thing that Partev Muradyan wants is to become president of the union,” says the UDP administration. Other sources claim that other forces are provoking P. Muradyan. Since the union has not totally disbanded and there is nothing to sell (many are interested in purchasing the cultural center and the #1 conglomerate located in the heart of Yerevan). The union can split up and later disband and if that happens, then all that belongs to the union will become the state’s property.