Epress.am News from Armenia
Journalists began collecting signatures in Armenia's National Assembly, and they intend to submit a complaint to the parliamentary Ethics Commission against Republican Party of Armenia MP Manvel Badeyan. At 3:30 pm on Wednesday, 47 journalists accredited in the parliament signed the complaint. The petition was initiated by Sona Grigoryan, a journalist with local daily Zhoghovurd, who will submit the signatures to Ethics Commission member, MP Nikol Pashinyan.
In parliament on Wednesday, journalists asked Badeyan to explain why he insulted the Yazidi people in a comment made on Dec. 10. In response, the MP called the journalists who raised the issue "scumbags". "That was a private conversation — why did you make it subject to publication? It was utterly a private conversation; it was not meant to be printed. They are scumbags like those who make a trumped-up case […] ah, yes, you can publish that: that I consider them scumbags. As for the Yazidis, I have nothing against them. It was a private conversation, which had nothing to do with my interview. They take it and publish it," he said.
Recall, in parliament on Tuesday, a journalist had asked the MP whether it was appropriate that the program "What, Where, When" was broadcast on Armenian television in the Russian language. "Are you really that low-levelled that you think like that? If this question was asked by some Yazidi on the street I wouldn't be surprised, but do you really think like that?" MP Badeyan replied, adding that "the working language of that program is Russian."
Insulted by Badeyan's comment, members of the Sinjar Yezidi National Union protested outside the National Assembly, bring along a roll of toilet paper and an image of a donkey to give to the MP.
Later, Sinjar Yezidi National Union issued a statement that Badeyan had apologized to the Yazidi people.