The mayors of four communities (Artashavan, Otevan, Hatsashen, Dashtadem) in Armenia’s Aragatzotn Province resigned following the June 20 snap parliamentary election.

The acting Mayor of Ddmasar also resigned.

Ghazar Karapetyan has served as Artashavan mayor since 1999. He told Hetq that as a lifelong ARF member he could not work with the current government in Yerevan.

Karapetyan scoffed at the idea that he was forced out of the job.

"I wasn’t born yesterday, to be told by someone to resign. I’ve been a Dashnak for a thousand years. I have no desire to work with them. I think differently. This government thinks differently," he said.

Karapetyan added that he had decided to resign a long time ago but hoped that the June 20 election would change things.

"I decided early on, but the war started. I went to the front, intending to resign upon returning. Then I thought, maybe the government will change, we will be able to bring get the lands back. I waited until the election. What I wanted did not happen, so I left,” said Karapetyan.

Hatsashen Mayor Vachagan Davtyan said that no one forced him to write an application.

"I have health problems, that's why I wrote a resignation application," he told Hetq.

Hetq could not reach the Dashtadem mayor nor the acting Ddmasar mayor. They never answered our phone calls.

Jamal Salmoyan, now the former Mayor of Otevan, told Hetq that he resigned on June 23 and now “quietly sits at home.”

When asked why he stepped down as mayor, Salmoyan could only say, “Whatever you’ve heard, that’s the reason.”

Aragatzotn Governor Davit Gevorgyan assured Hetq that neither he, nor anyone in his office, pressured the mayors to resign.

"It must be mentioned that the heads of the communities who terminated their powers submitted their applications not to the provincial governor, but to the community council. Therefore, we do not know the reasons for the early termination of their powers," said Gevorgyan.

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