Yerevan oncology center head fired for greeting protest leader, doctor says

Samvel Danielyan has been dismissed as acting director of Yerevan’s Yolyan Hematology and Oncology Center.

In a Facebook live video on Wednesday, oncologist Gevorg Tamamyan stated that he was sacked for warmly greeting Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the leader of a protest movement against the Armenian government’s unilateral territorial concession to Azerbaijan, at a march in Yerevan.

The doctor condemned Danielyan’s dismissal as politically motivated and unveiled his decision to quit as a Yolyan Center oncologist in protest against it.

“Doctors are not fired for public statements opposing the Ukraine war even in Russia,” he stressed.