Armenians deceived by businessmen, government
By Rashid Shirinov
Thousands of Armenians are being deceived not only by their government daily, but also by businessman. One of the most vivid examples of that is the case with the Armenian winery "Vedi Alco" and wine-growers.
Local media, epress.am announced that the winery owed 140 million drams (over $295,350) to the wine-growers of the Aghavnadzor village of Armenia. The plant received grapes from the locals last year, but still has not paid for them.
Locals have repeatedly protested in a bid to get their money. They argue that they failed to pay for taxes, and even failed to send their children to school this year as they don’t have money to buy school items. What is interesting, the villagers say they are protesting not so much against the plant, as against Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, who last year promised to solve the problem year.
Wine-grower Aikas Asatryan told the reporters that PM Abrahamyan promised them that the entire crop will be accepted and paid for in 2015. But the problem still remains.
This problem has deep roots, the villagers say. Several years ago, “Vedi Alco” and other plants rented lands in Aghavnadzor for a paltry price and planted vineyards there. “They said they would take our grapes, but they tricked us,” the growers say.
As a result of unpaid debts, some 80 percent of Aghavnadzor residents found themselves in a very difficult social situation. “Most of the villagers suffer from loans. Last year, a man committed suicide because he did not have money. My son left home to get money from somewhere else,” said Asatryan.
Another villager, Matevos Tovmasyan, stated that he borrowed money and hoped that he would cover it through the sale of grapes, but now he was sued.
The villagers promise not to send their children to school as long as the issue is resolved. The residents also emphasized they are ready to resort to more drastic measures, for example, to block the major highway and not to participate in the October elections of local governments.
"This issue will be resolved within 10 days. And those media reports that the Prime Minister promised to pay the debts and deceived the villagers is a baseless talk," Hovik Abrahamian told journalists, commenting on the issue. Well, they will wait a little more...
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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