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After the recent war in Artsakh, employees of the Sotk gold mine have found themselves in a forced downtime, as the mine is not operating at full capacity, independent MP Taguhi Tovmasyan said at a parliament sitting on Thursday.

She said around 300 employees of the mine are facing layoffs, adding 100 of them have already been laid off, while the dismissal of the rest is in progress.

“This means that nearly 300 families in Vardenis and surrounding settlements will be left jobless, which is a serious problem in the border region in these extremely difficult social conditions. Those people want to resort to extreme measures,” Tovmasyan noted.

The lawmaker said that many residents of Vardenis community contacted her on Thursday, announcing their intention to block the railway to voice their concerns.

“Ore is transported to Ararat by this railway. Citizens want to carry out other actions as well. To prevent this, maybe my statement will help the government to take some steps and provide support [to residents]. I think this is an urgent issue and people need to be offered an alternative,” Tovmasyan said.