David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to VK
On May 21 the center of Yerevan was conflagrated by public unrest. The reason for the contradiction between various layers of the Armenian society and the police was not falsification of elections’ results, but the organized in the capital parade “Variety.”
Some social organizations (Social Information and Demand for Knowledge and Women Resource Center) organized the demonstration “March of the Cultural Variety” which started at the complex “Cascade” and had to end on Charles Aznavour Square. But even ahead of the march the situation became tense. A group of young people chanted slogans “Stop Freaks” and stated they are against homosexuals. One of the initiators of the demonstration, Marine Markaryan, told journalists that the parade “Variety” has nothing in common with sexual minorities, it is a cultural action, and the inadequate perception of the parade is caused by disinformation and events around an attack at the club DIY where sexual minorities gathered. However, nobody could explain it to young Armenian conservators. Thus, there was a clash between participants of the parade and conservative young people.
In general these events are not surprising. The same day the bar DIY (Do it yourself) in the center of Yerevan was attacked. According to the owner Armina Oganezova, a group of people broke into the club, broke tables and chairs. They left a big poster in the club “Light to faith of Enlighter, death to apostate!” According to her, these groups are managed by one person, and when they gather, their number is about 200-300 people.
The wave of impatience reached the USA. The chairman of the Central Committee of Dashnaktsutyun Party of the US West Coast, Avedik Izmirlyan, judged the hate crime and urged the sides to open and fair discussion of impatience. He judged the incident in DIY in Yerevan and denied party’s involvement into the bar’s attack. As for importance of this incident in the US, Izmirlyan said that race, religion, nationality, and sexual orientation discrimination has always been a doubtful issue in societies, including the US.
Still silence covered the political space of Armenia, rarely interrupted by faceless and empty statements by various politicians. But this silence is illusive. Intensive property redistribution is taking place, and the major players try to share the pie of power, economy, elections, ministries, and prime-minister’s chair. And the most important thing – define the candidate to presidency in 2013.
At the moment the main events defining its future are taking place. But the mass media doesn’t cover it, because journalists have no information about it. In this context information on homosexuals, dissidents, addicts, HIV positives, and other similar elements of the Armenian society fills the information vacuum. Various experts enthusiastically prove that sexual and religious minorities, as well as sick people, “can destroy Armenia.” At the same time, real rulers of the destinies have only one concern: fight for their place in the sun.
Top officials probably think that inter-ethnic hatred and lack of tolerance are controllable processes. Nevertheless, initiators of the clash in society into “nationalists” and “liberals” should understand that a controllable process can get beyond control. Even the countries with developed legal systems have problems with the issues connected with sexual minorities. As for Armenia with its fragile system of democracy, provocations in this sphere are unacceptable.
