ARMENIAN MP AGAINST RACISM, XENOPHOBIA. A YEAR AGO HE JUSTIFIED HATE CRIME
10.09.2013 14:09 epress.am
The fight against terrorism is the focus of several Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS), including Armenia, said National Assembly
Vice President, Republican Party of Armenia spokesperson Eduard
Sharmazanov at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Defence and
Security of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Oct. 8 in St.
Petersburg.
Sharmazanov expressed regret that in the territory of the CIS there
are still countries today where inter-ethnic and inter-religious
hatred prevails and where xenophobia and terrorism are born. Some
CIS countries, he said, considering this or that nation their enemy,
at the state level instill hate among the new generation.
It is his deep conviction that terrorism is born where there is no
tolerance, which leads to radical nationalist sentiments.
However, in May 2012, when brothers and nationalists Arame and Hambik
Khabazyan set fire to DIY, a bar in central Yerevan, Sharmazanov not
only didn't condemn their actions, but publicly declared his support,
saying that what they did was "right and justified".
Furthermore, he said that all those who "attempt to protect degenerate
faggots in our society defile the national portrait of us Armenians."
His statements drew the attention of the European Commission against
Racism and Intolernace, a body of the Council of Europe, which said
that such statements "create a dangerous sense of impunity".
After these statements, which Sharmazanov had conveyed to a local
newspaper, Public Information and Need of Knowledge (PINK Armenia)
NGO President Mamikon Hovsepyan appealed to the parliamentary
ethics committee, asking it to investigate whether these statements
comply with the ethics of a lawmaker. Hovsepyan pointed out that by
publicly justifying a hate crime, Sharmazanov violated the RA National
Assembly's Code of Ethics, as well as his oath in office.
Several NGOs have called the DIY bombing "a clear act of terrorism
directed against minorities".
http://www.epress.am/en/2013/10/09/armenian-mp-against-racism-xenophobia-a-year-ago-he-justified-hate-crime.html
10.09.2013 14:09 epress.am
The fight against terrorism is the focus of several Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS), including Armenia, said National Assembly
Vice President, Republican Party of Armenia spokesperson Eduard
Sharmazanov at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Defence and
Security of the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Oct. 8 in St.
Petersburg.
Sharmazanov expressed regret that in the territory of the CIS there
are still countries today where inter-ethnic and inter-religious
hatred prevails and where xenophobia and terrorism are born. Some
CIS countries, he said, considering this or that nation their enemy,
at the state level instill hate among the new generation.
It is his deep conviction that terrorism is born where there is no
tolerance, which leads to radical nationalist sentiments.
However, in May 2012, when brothers and nationalists Arame and Hambik
Khabazyan set fire to DIY, a bar in central Yerevan, Sharmazanov not
only didn't condemn their actions, but publicly declared his support,
saying that what they did was "right and justified".
Furthermore, he said that all those who "attempt to protect degenerate
faggots in our society defile the national portrait of us Armenians."
His statements drew the attention of the European Commission against
Racism and Intolernace, a body of the Council of Europe, which said
that such statements "create a dangerous sense of impunity".
After these statements, which Sharmazanov had conveyed to a local
newspaper, Public Information and Need of Knowledge (PINK Armenia)
NGO President Mamikon Hovsepyan appealed to the parliamentary
ethics committee, asking it to investigate whether these statements
comply with the ethics of a lawmaker. Hovsepyan pointed out that by
publicly justifying a hate crime, Sharmazanov violated the RA National
Assembly's Code of Ethics, as well as his oath in office.
Several NGOs have called the DIY bombing "a clear act of terrorism
directed against minorities".
http://www.epress.am/en/2013/10/09/armenian-mp-against-racism-xenophobia-a-year-ago-he-justified-hate-crime.html