Vigen Sargsyan and H1 Public TV Company Discredit Students with False Information

On November 7, it was noted during the “Orakarg” program of Public TV, “Students complaining against the law on limiting the right for deferment have demanded a meeting with the heads of education and defense ministries. Vigen Sargsyan has accepted the offer. The students who required the meeting did not turn up”. Then the “Orakarg” journalists adds, “It results that those who took the students to streets did not turn up at the meeting”.

Then, “Orakarg” shows a part of Vigen Sargsyan’s speech, where the latter states, “After lengthy discussions, asking for additional time, consulting with each other or with somebody, they have refused our offer to be here. And though they have received a direct offer to be here today, introduce their positions, they preferred to stay in the squares, in the streets. I think that it is not a good sign because it means that they are interested in the process, rather than the result”. Then, the “Orakarg” journalist notes, “and the minister noted that there is a serious fabrication in the process, the law on military service cannot be considered separately”.  

In fact, both Vigen Sargsyan and “Orakarg” claim that the students have refused to come to the meeting with the Defense Minister for some reasons, while the students note that the problem consisted in the format of the meeting. One of the activists of the movement Davit Petrosyan stated, “Yesterday they called us from the Ministry of Defense to inform that a meeting is envisaged and that a press release has been sent to all the media outlets. However, there are media outlets that were not invited. There is already a problem here but I am not saying that they have intentionally lied to us. But if they say they have sent invitations to all, then it should be all”. Then, he also added that live coverage was not ensured either. It turns out that the students have demanded a transparent meeting and have been refused, and, thus, they have decided not to participate in a meeting with different a format.

Hence, Vigen Sargsyan and Public TV give a biased account of the situation, without mentioning the reasons for students not turning up at the meeting. Moreover, if we consider that Vigen Sargsyan is also showering unjustified accusations according to which students are directed by somebody, or they are interested in the process rather than the result, an impression is created that the Defense Minister and the Public TV are trying to discredit the students. And to achieve that goal, they do not even hesitate to lie.