YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–The union of public organizations called "Human Rights-96" launched a public campaign against to postpone the sale of the Yerevan Brandy Factory until new parliamentary elections are held next fall.
The member organizations issued a joint statement recently supporting the public’s right to decide the fate of the factory and deal with its privatization through a fairly elected parliament.
The Union expressed its concern over the future of the factory–describing it as very uncertain. Thus–quoting several press reports–the authors of the statement drew the conclusion that covert efforts to privatize the factory have defied the country’s constitution. Furthermore–the statement said–the current parliament–which is widely labeled illegitimate–has thus far failed to make a decision on the privatization of public property.
"Human Rights-96" urged Robert Kocharian–Karen Demirchian–Vazgen Manoukian and Sergey Badalian–the four top vote-getters in the March presidential elections and advocates for the expansion domestic production–to speak out to save the Yerevan Brandy Factory from suspicious deals.