YEREVAN, JUNE 5, ARMENPRESS. The city council sittings of Artashat, a town  30 km southeast of Yerevan, are not taking place as members are boycotting and demanding the resignation of Mayor Karen Benyaminyan.

“We are boycotting namely against a wrong staffing policy, high local tariffs and many other reasons”, city council member Gor Nazaryan told ARMENPRESS, adding that there is also a waste management problem in the city.

He said that nine members of the city council are boycotting the sittings with the same demands.

Another city council member, Kamo Khachatryan, says he is demanding the mayor’s resignation for incomplete management. “Artashat is full of garbage. Waste collection is conducted very poorly,” he said.

But the Mayor himself says no one has officially addressed him demanding his resignation.

Speaking on the waste collection issue, the Mayor told ARMENPRESS that garbage collection is conducted daily, on a regular basis. The Mayor says all issues raised by citizens have been solved.

“I am working to do everything possible for the city. I am elected by the citizens, I am working and serving for my city and people. If they are making demands based on personal interests, I am demanding grounds. I am not going to resign,” the Mayor told ARMENPRESS, adding that citizens have not made a resignation demand.

Benyaminyan is serving as Mayor of Artashat since November of 2017.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan