Epress.am News from Armenia
The National Assembly ethics committee today accepted the application of the Sinjar Yezidi National Union against Republican Party of Armenia MP Manvel Badeyan, the committee chair, Davit Harutyunyan, told reporters today after the meeting.
Recall, members of the Yazidi community in Armenia complained after a journalist on Dec. 10 asked the MP whether it was appropriate that the program "What, Where, When" was broadcast on Armenian television in Russian and Badeyan replied: "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?"
The Sinjar Yezidi National Union subsequently protested outside the parliament building, bringing a photo of a donkey and a roll of toilet paper as "gifts" to the lawmaker.
Later, Badeyan explained that he didn't mean the Yezidi people but the Yezidi who, for example, cleans the streets and who you cannot expect to be literate: "I meant in terms of a street cleaner, not in terms of the Yazidi people — why didn't he [the reporter] write it [the whole story] till the end?" He emphasized that it was a private conversation and he has nothing against the Yazidi people.
Member of the National Committee of Yezidis Sashik Sultanyan today said this matter must be resolved in the parliament, as this is where the incident occurred and the lawmaker abused his authority. Sultanyan doesn't believe it's correct to take the matter to court.
Photo: Sinjar Yezidi National Union representative Boris Tamoyan