U.S.-affiliated company raises Armenian and American flags in Yeraskh construction site targeted by Azeri gunfire

YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. A U.S.-affiliated company building a steel mill in the Armenian village of Yeraskh has raised the flags of Armenia and the United States in the construction site.

GTB Steel, the company building the steelworks, said that by raising the flags it is recording its unequivocal decision that despite the Azerbaijani cross-border gunfire and provocations they will continue the construction as planned.

GTB Steel executive Tiran Hakobyan told reporters after the flag raising ceremony on June 20 that they realize that the flags are no guarantee that the Azeri military would stop the shooting. “This is the stipulation of the decision of our Board of Directors which was made after long discussions. By [raising the flags] we record that we will not leave this place and we will continue to build the plant,” he said.

He added that only the government of Armenia has the authority to allow or ban the construction, and that it has given permission. GTB Steel has all required paperwork for the construction, Hakobyan stressed.

Last week, Azerbaijani forces shot and wounded two Indian construction workers at the construction site of the steel plant in Yeraskh. The construction site has since been targeted again by the Azeri forces.