Yerevan: opposition offers to cancel Soviet-era streets names

In autumn, members of the opposition "Elk" and "Apricot Country" factions will propose the Yerevan Council of Elders to rename streets and schools of the city to get rid of the names from the Soviet era. City Mayor Taron Margaryan is willing to discuss the proposals.

The proposal will raise objections from politicians to "authoritarian views of the Soviet era," believes Araik Arutyunyan, the chairman of the Yerevan City Council for Education, Culture and Social Affairs and a member of the "Elk" faction.

According to Araik Arutyunyan, for the above reason, the Yerevan authorities ignored the proposal to rename Leningradyan Street in honour of physicist Leonid Azgaldyan, a commander of the squad "Independence Army", killed during the Karabakh war.

"The presence of Anastas Mikoyan Street allows us to conclude that the country appreciates his contribution to executions and exile of many thousands of Armenians," Araik Arutyunyan has added.

"In particular, we propose to build a monument to President Woodrow Wilson (the 28th United States President) and to name a square in his honour in Yerevan," stated Zaruhi Postandjyan, the leader of the "Apricot Country" faction.

Vaagn Khachatryan, the former Mayor of Yerevan, believes the conclusion concerning renaming should be produced by a commission to study contribution of public figures to the history of the Armenian people.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.