On July 16 Aram Abrahamian on the pages of the daily he edits, “Aravot”, announced his resignation from the position of a director of “Aravot TV” company. Aram Abrahamian headed “Aravot TV” (previously “Kentron”) on April 24, after the owner of the TV company changed (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, April 23-29, 2004).
“My step is in no way related to politics, in which I never engaged and am not going to engage in”, Aram Abrahamian wrote in “Aravot” daily. “In the course of my work as a head of TV company nobody ever exercised political pressure on me, introduced censorship or expressed dissatisfaction with the content of the news and program. On the contrary, I was asked to stay. However, I will not stay since I am discontent with the unserious attitude of the shareholders to their property”.
The discontent of Abrahamian was caused by the financial management of the new owners of the TV company. According to the journalist, on July 8 he addressed the main shareholder of the TV company, the RA National Assembly deputy Murad Guloyan with a letter, where he “gave a detailed description of the financial situation of the TV company” and proposed to take urgent measures to rectify it. “I am not going to demand money for salaries and maintenance of an enterprise you own. I refuse my salary for June. And I am enclosing my resignation notice to the letter. If the events ensue as I expect them to develop, on July 16 I will narrate the reasons for my resignation in ‘Aravot’”, the letter ended saying. To follow the appeal of the shareholders and to continue working “somehow” (that is, making low-quality production), in the opinion of Aram Abrahamian, would lead to his professional discreditation.
The position of the head of “Aravot TV” was filled by one of the leading journalists of the TV company Petros Ghazarian, the author and host of “Urvagits” program. According to Petros Ghazarian, the TV channel will soon return its old name “Kentron”.
