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GAY RIGHTS UNDER ATTACK IN ARMENIA
By Karine Ionesyan
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
IWPR Caucasus Reporting, Issue 643
May 25 2012
Firebombing of bar, and the approval it met with, are telling
indicators of hostility towards sexual minorities.
Attacks on a bar in central Yerevan and trouble at a march in support
of tolerance show just how far away Armenia is from the equality its
constitution proclaims, activists say.
The DIY Club, known as a gay hangout, was firebombed on May 8. In a
second incident on May 15, swastikas were sprayed on the bar's walls.
Two young men were arrested in connection with the firebombing,
but were later released on bail.
Leading politicians from the opposition as well as from the ruling
Republican Party spoke out in defence of the two suspects. This
outraged civil right activists, who said the statements contributed
to inciting attacks that took place on a diversity march that followed.
The demonstration was held to mark World Day of Cultural Diversity
on May 21, and included refugees and ethnic minorities as well as
homosexuals.
However, its opponents were convinced it was a gay pride parade,
so they staged what they described as an "anti-parade", which ended
with them confronting the marchers. Skirmishes between the two groups
did not escalate into wider violence.
"There have always been clashes, it's just that no one talked about
them. And on Diversity Day, there was an even bigger clash," said
Mamikon Hovsepyan, one of the organisers of the diversity parade and
head of the PINK group, which campaigns for public awareness of gay
rights issues.
"After the club was attacked, those arrested were released on bail.
And then this happened. It basically means that terrorism has support
from Armenian politicians."
The DIY Club has been under police guard since the day of the parade.
It had been boarded up after the two earlier attacks, but on May 21,
rioters broke in and smashed it up.
No one has been arrested for this latest attack, although police say
they are investigating it.
"My club was burned, everything was broken, and I continue to get
threats saying they will burn, kill me and so on," said the bar's
owner Armine Oganezova, a well-known rock musician who uses the stage
name Tsomak. "All these specific, deliberate steps are against me,
since I hold liberal views and I've been to Turkey to give a rock
concert and attend a gay parade."
Oganezova said she heard that the young men arrested on suspicion of
carrying out the firebombing had their bail paid by Artsvik Minasyan
and Hrayr Karapetyan, two members of parliament from the opposition
Dashnaktsutyun party.
Both Minasyan and Hrayr Karapetyan deny paying bail, but they have
spoken favourably of what the suspects are accused of doing.
"I am sure these young men acted in accordance with our public and
national ideology, and that they acted correctly," Minasyan said in
an interview with the website www.panorama.am.
Eduard Sharmazanov, deputy speaker of parliament and a leading
member of the ruling Republican Party, also spoke positively about
the alleged attackers in a post on his Facebook page.
Artak Kirakosyan, head of the Civil Society Institute, an NGO that
promotes democracy values, said comments of this kind from politicians
were very worrying.
"The atmosphere of immunity that is spread by Sharmazanov and the
representatives of Dashnaktsutyun is very dangerous," he said. "They
themselves do not know what horrors will be awoken, and in future
they won't be able to stop it," he said.
The "anti-parade" participants whom IWPR interviewed, such as Armen
Aghayan of the nationalist youth group Hayazn, did not support the
firebombing, but said they would continue to battle attempts to secure
wider rights for gay people.
"Whether the constitution permits homosexuality or not, it is my duty
rather than my right to call it amoral. I must protect my child from
everything of this kind, and tell him it is deviancy," he said.
The anti-gay activists base their views on the Bible, although they
have not won approval from the Armenian Apostolic Church.
"We do not hate people, we hate the sin itself, not the sinner. It is
necessary to find a civilised solutions," Father Shmavon Ter-Ghevondyan
said. "All violence creates more violence, and you cannot resolve
any matter that way."
Armenia's constitution sets out equality for all before the law,
but the country only repealed a law against homosexuality in 2003,
under pressure from European institutions.
According to a 2011 report from the Armenian Office of the Helsinki
Civil Assembly in 2011, homosexuals face violence and discrimination
from police, and within the army and the prison system. As a result,
they tend not to report crimes committed against them, since they
worry they will only face more abuse.
The office of Armenia's official human rights ombudsman has designed
a strategy to protect sexual minorities, including legal and
procedural reforms ensuring access to justice. It has also proposed
ways to prevent violence against homosexuals in prisons, to prevent
discrimination in the workplace, and to bar anti-gay propaganda from
the media.
Karine Ionesyan reports for the Civil Society Institute in Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
By Karine Ionesyan
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
IWPR Caucasus Reporting, Issue 643
May 25 2012
Firebombing of bar, and the approval it met with, are telling
indicators of hostility towards sexual minorities.
Attacks on a bar in central Yerevan and trouble at a march in support
of tolerance show just how far away Armenia is from the equality its
constitution proclaims, activists say.
The DIY Club, known as a gay hangout, was firebombed on May 8. In a
second incident on May 15, swastikas were sprayed on the bar's walls.
Two young men were arrested in connection with the firebombing,
but were later released on bail.
Leading politicians from the opposition as well as from the ruling
Republican Party spoke out in defence of the two suspects. This
outraged civil right activists, who said the statements contributed
to inciting attacks that took place on a diversity march that followed.
The demonstration was held to mark World Day of Cultural Diversity
on May 21, and included refugees and ethnic minorities as well as
homosexuals.
However, its opponents were convinced it was a gay pride parade,
so they staged what they described as an "anti-parade", which ended
with them confronting the marchers. Skirmishes between the two groups
did not escalate into wider violence.
"There have always been clashes, it's just that no one talked about
them. And on Diversity Day, there was an even bigger clash," said
Mamikon Hovsepyan, one of the organisers of the diversity parade and
head of the PINK group, which campaigns for public awareness of gay
rights issues.
"After the club was attacked, those arrested were released on bail.
And then this happened. It basically means that terrorism has support
from Armenian politicians."
The DIY Club has been under police guard since the day of the parade.
It had been boarded up after the two earlier attacks, but on May 21,
rioters broke in and smashed it up.
No one has been arrested for this latest attack, although police say
they are investigating it.
"My club was burned, everything was broken, and I continue to get
threats saying they will burn, kill me and so on," said the bar's
owner Armine Oganezova, a well-known rock musician who uses the stage
name Tsomak. "All these specific, deliberate steps are against me,
since I hold liberal views and I've been to Turkey to give a rock
concert and attend a gay parade."
Oganezova said she heard that the young men arrested on suspicion of
carrying out the firebombing had their bail paid by Artsvik Minasyan
and Hrayr Karapetyan, two members of parliament from the opposition
Dashnaktsutyun party.
Both Minasyan and Hrayr Karapetyan deny paying bail, but they have
spoken favourably of what the suspects are accused of doing.
"I am sure these young men acted in accordance with our public and
national ideology, and that they acted correctly," Minasyan said in
an interview with the website www.panorama.am.
Eduard Sharmazanov, deputy speaker of parliament and a leading
member of the ruling Republican Party, also spoke positively about
the alleged attackers in a post on his Facebook page.
Artak Kirakosyan, head of the Civil Society Institute, an NGO that
promotes democracy values, said comments of this kind from politicians
were very worrying.
"The atmosphere of immunity that is spread by Sharmazanov and the
representatives of Dashnaktsutyun is very dangerous," he said. "They
themselves do not know what horrors will be awoken, and in future
they won't be able to stop it," he said.
The "anti-parade" participants whom IWPR interviewed, such as Armen
Aghayan of the nationalist youth group Hayazn, did not support the
firebombing, but said they would continue to battle attempts to secure
wider rights for gay people.
"Whether the constitution permits homosexuality or not, it is my duty
rather than my right to call it amoral. I must protect my child from
everything of this kind, and tell him it is deviancy," he said.
The anti-gay activists base their views on the Bible, although they
have not won approval from the Armenian Apostolic Church.
"We do not hate people, we hate the sin itself, not the sinner. It is
necessary to find a civilised solutions," Father Shmavon Ter-Ghevondyan
said. "All violence creates more violence, and you cannot resolve
any matter that way."
Armenia's constitution sets out equality for all before the law,
but the country only repealed a law against homosexuality in 2003,
under pressure from European institutions.
According to a 2011 report from the Armenian Office of the Helsinki
Civil Assembly in 2011, homosexuals face violence and discrimination
from police, and within the army and the prison system. As a result,
they tend not to report crimes committed against them, since they
worry they will only face more abuse.
The office of Armenia's official human rights ombudsman has designed
a strategy to protect sexual minorities, including legal and
procedural reforms ensuring access to justice. It has also proposed
ways to prevent violence against homosexuals in prisons, to prevent
discrimination in the workplace, and to bar anti-gay propaganda from
the media.
Karine Ionesyan reports for the Civil Society Institute in Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress