Yerevan councilor blames government for capital’s air pollution

An opposition politician has accused Armenia’s leadership of neglecting Yerevan’s worsening air quality, describing it as the result of years of government inaction.

Mesrop Manukyan, a member of the Yerevan City Council and an MP candidate from the Hayastan alliance, said the capital’s environmental problems remain unresolved despite a sharp rise in public debt.

“The landfill is on the outskirts, but the polluted air is in the city center,” Manukyan noted, calling air pollution one of Yerevan’s most urgent challenges.

He claimed that over the past eight years, authorities have added billions of drams to Armenia’s external debt without addressing fundamental urban issues.

“This is not simply a problem — it is the result of inaction. There is no room left for excuses, it is time to act,” he said.