Armenian minister dismisses press reports as “slander”
Noyan Tapan news agency
21 Jun 04
Yerevan, 21 June: Minister of Culture and Youth Affairs Ovik Oveyan
broke his vow of silence of the past 100 days and made a “forced”
statement at a news conference on 21 June to which he was invited. He
refuted various publications, slander and statistical data about him
and the ministry he heads published by the Armenian press.
The minister said this was done to order by certain forces. “Since I
have held no meetings with any of the journalists and have given no
interviews, all the reports about me have been published to order to
put it mildly,” he said.
Ovik Oveyan also called on the journalists not to believe any of the
publications which will appear before a news conference scheduled
for September. He said that in September he would give his first
“major” news conference and would give interviews and hold meetings
with journalists after that.
Speaking about his membership of the Orinats Yerkir [Law-Governed
Country] Party, he explained that it was not a hasty decision. It took
him several months or may even be a year to take the decision. “Having
familiarized myself with its charter, programme, its prospects and
constructive tasks it plans to tackle and having seen its list of
members, I decided to join the party,” the minister said.
