YEREVAN, FERUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. "There is a nihilistic approach to our culture today. The worthless flood came and swept over our valuable culture but failed to destroy it," writer Razmik Davoyan said during the February 23 discussion at the Urbat Club. According to him, there are some people who benefit from saying that neither culture nor values exist today. This mentality has formed in the society and discredits intellectuals: "Now there is no demand for intellectuals, only the category "intellectual" exists, with some trying to use it." The speaker pointed out the current lack of demand for cultural values, which is also evident from reading cultural pages of newspapers where one can seldom find serious analyses or articles on culture because nobody needs such articles. "This is the problem of demand. An intellectual can speak about some cultural problem or other, however, at present he is not considered to be interesting or modern," the writer said. In his opinion, "demand is regulated by the state. Nobody says that we need culture, no such demand was made. If such demand is absent, who is going to create it?" In the writer's words, today culture is necessary for those "who are not involved in politivs, who stand aside, not intervening in anything." Speaking about the upcoming parliamentary elections, Razmik Davoyan noted that the pre-election campaign is like believers who pray in the square and rob the temple after reaching it. According to him, for those who demand system changes, the problem is "literally, to move from an outskirt to the center." At the same time he said that he will nominate his candidature only in case of considering the list of other nominees as satisfactory. "I have never regarded being an ARF member as party work. Being an ARF member has been an ideological task for me since my student years," Razmik Davoyan stated.

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