A number of journalistic organizations issued a statement, demanding that Hovik Aghazaryan, deputy of the CP faction of the National Assembly, publicly apologize to journalist Knar Manukyan and guarantee that he will not allow disrespectful behavior towards media representatives in the future.
The announcement states:
"On October 15, in the National Assembly, Hovik Aghazaryan, deputy of the "Civil Agreement" faction, met Knar Manukyan, an accredited reporter of the "Zhoghovurd" newspaper and Armlur.am website, and expressed dissatisfaction with the interview the latter published with him, and insulted him. According to the journalist, the deputy called him a "rascal", "disgusting" and expressed hatred: "Persian, you are worse than a Persian woman" (it is difficult to imagine what he meant by this strange expression).
On the same day, Hovik Aghazaryan denied that he had used the word "Persian", but the incident was witnessed by reporters from other mass media, and in particular, Ruzan Khachatryan, a journalist from the News.am website, confirmed that the MP had used that word.
We, the undersigned journalistic organizations, express our indignation and condemn this unseemly behavior of the deputy of the ruling faction. We record that this is just one episode of many conflicts, disrespect and insults between the members of the National Assembly and journalists. This is a serious problem, which should be the subject of a comprehensive discussion in the Parliament's Ethics Committee, the creation and operation of which is not becoming a reality for unknown reasons.
Regarding the mentioned incident, we demand:
Regarding the mentioned incident, we demand:
- From the "Civil Contract" faction, to evaluate Hovik Aghazaryan's behavior and inform the public about it.
- From the leadership of the National Assembly to take measures to relieve the existing tension in the MP-journalist relationship, and to examine the arising conflicts in the ethics committee and draw conclusions."
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF SPEECH
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
CENTER FOR MEDIA INITIATIVES
INSTITUTE OF MULTISIDED INFORMATION - ARMENIA
PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB
"JOURNALISTS FOR THE FUTURE" NGO
"JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS" NGO
PRESS CLUB OF GORIS
