Armenia’s premier and actor Vardan Petrosyan only persons joking about emigration

Actor Vardan Petrosyan has confessed that he finds it quite difficult to show emigration and poverty in his performances. But he considers it his duty to cheer people up.
 
“It is most difficult to joke about emigration. Our premier can do it, and I too. I joke about emigration for fifteen minutes, people laugh, but my heart is bleeding. I will cheer them up as much as I can,” Petrosyan said.

The actor is not calling for a revolution in his performances. Rather, it is a call for unity.

“Art does not call for revolutions. Quite another thing is that I praise and encourage young people. I am proud of our young people who struggled. They must be encouraged. This is a call for spiritual unity. Nothing can be spoken of without spiritual unity. As a rule, each one pursues his own interests during revolutions, but individual interests are out of the question in this case,” the actor said.
Petrosyan knows that the fare rise is on the agenda. Speaking of the rising prices, he said it must not be “through skinning old men and women.”

“We had a huge gas price rise, and let no one try to plead economic problems. Even economists say that the gas price may not be raised so much. I am sure the Yerevan Municipality was able to procure funds for subsidies,” Petrosyan said.

He also addressed Armenia’s decision to join the Customs Union. With humor typical of him, the actor said that he is sorry for Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan rather than for Armenia because of Armenian immigrants there.

“It reminds me of the turn of the 20th century, when both in Western Armenia and here we were trying to find our bearings. When you study history, you see we were only treated as a plaything,” the actor said. Armenia is not a state capable of playing games Turkey is playing.

As regards Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia will suffer too. “A checkpoint will be set up between Armenia and Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh]. Who needs it? Even if an honest Russian customs officer will not allow an Armenian citizen take anything to or bring anything from Artsakh, what are we speaking about?”