5 Thousand Dram Bills Will Not Be Withdrawn from Circulation: CBA Clarifies What Is Depicted on Them

When archaeologist Samvel Karapetyan states that the Central Bank attempted to depict a church on the 5,000 dram banknote, but instead portrayed the tomb of Sherif Khan D., it is a subjective interpretation, as there is no information indicating that we intended to show a church. We have presented one of the famous panoramas of the city of Baghshe from the early 20th century through five photographs, which have undergone certain modifications to achieve their current appearance. This was stated by Harutyun Berberyan, head of the Public Relations Department of the Central Bank of Armenia, in an interview with Aysor.am, in response to the archaeologist's Facebook post that mentioned, "Due to ignorance and careless sloppiness, we are advertising the tomb of a Muslim khan with the new 5,000 dram notes."

According to Berberyan, the Central Bank of Armenia published the primary description of the third generation banknotes on their official website before putting them into circulation, which includes information on the size of the banknotes, the main color scheme, and images of the obverse and reverse sides.

“Specifically about the 5,000 dram note, it is mentioned that the obverse features a portrait of William Saroyan, against which are portions of illustrations from his story 'The Pomegranate Tree', as well as images of Armenian mountains and pomegranate trees. The reverse side shows the statue of William Saroyan in Yerevan, set against the panorama of his ancestral town Baghshe from the 20th century,” our interlocutor added.

In Berberyan's opinion, Samvel Karapetyan's Facebook post, rich with emotional elements, has achieved its goal, but they did not originally intend to depict the city of Baghshe with a church.

He also noted that the Central Bank does not plan to alter the illustrations on the banknotes or withdraw them from circulation.