MP Who Offended Journalists is Sure He Won’t Be Penalized

Republican Party of MP Manvel Badeyan, in conversation with Epress.am, said he is convinced that the journalists' appeal to the Ethics Commission will not have any negative consequences for him, since he didn't violate any ethical norms. 

He repeated that he considers some journalists to be "schemers" and "that's the way it is; there's no ethical violation in that". 

"Is it news to you that some journalists are engaged in intrigues? I compared the journalist with a Yazidi street cleaner, and I said, you have less brains than him — because you don't know that the majority of street cleaners are Yazidis. Wake up early in the morning and see," he said.

Asked whether that comparison, nevertheless, is not offensive to the Yazidi people, Badeyan said: "On the contrary, I said the Yezidi street cleaner is smarter than that journalist."

As for future contact with journalists, the MP said he will gladly deal with "smart journalists," while he won't speak to "fools". 

Recall, in parliament on Dec. 10, 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.

Photo credit: News.am