The Armenian Environmental Front volunteer initiative sent four questions to Environment Minister Romanos Petrosyan regarding the Amulsar issue. We present the questions we asked, the answers we received and our comments․
1. Have you fully studied the 295-page-long report by "ELARD" "TRC" companies and the other correspondence posted on the website of RA Investigative Committee between Lydian, "ELARD"/"TRC" Group and "Investigative Committee". If so, what do you think about them as a minister and a geologist?
Answer – As ex officio Minister, as well as a geologist, studies the reports by "ELARD"/ "TRC" companies step by step, as well as the correspondences between Lydian, "ELARD"/"TRC" Group and "Investigative Committee", and regularly refers to them in his public speeches presenting the position of the ministry.
Comments: It is clear from the response that the documents, as well as other documents have not been fully studied yet, there is no opinion about them yet. Nothing significant, professional was said about them in public speeches; to put it mildly, it is not very correct to cite them.
2. Are you familiar with the documents that RA Investigative Committee has been refusing to provide us for two years? If you are familiar, are you ready to provide us with those documents as well? You can get acquainted with the list of those documents and the facts of not providing them to us here.
Response: This important question was left unanswered, which was expected to be so.
3. Have you thoroughly studied the reports of more than a dozen internationally recognized experts (from Australia, the United States and Canada) published in 2017? If so, what do you think about them as a minister and a geologist?
Response: This question also remained unanswered. It is supposed that the reports we mentioned have not been studied.
4. Are you ready to initiate a serious independent professional discussion to conduct a content analysis of the above-mentioned reports or other studies, which will be open and accessible to the public (live video broadcast or full video recording for future publication)?
Response: During the meeting of the Public Council under the Minister, it was proposed to initiate an independent professional open discussion with the participation of the mass media for the purpose of content analysis of the above-mentioned reports and other studies. After a complete review of the reports by "ELARD"/"TRC" Group, if necessary, a professional discussion will be held within the powers of the Ministry, and then an open discussion on the results will be held with the interested NGOs.
Comments: It is clear from the answer that there is a tendency to ignore the most important researches in 2017-2018, not to make them a subject of discussion; In our opinion, all the scientific and professional studies done so far should be analyzed, discussed, not only with NGOs, but also with informed residents of Jermuk community, impartial specialists, scientists and experts.
Armenian Environmental Front
April 13, 2021 at 18:59