Kristine Vardanyan, a member of the opposition Hayastan faction, addressed ‘self-identified feminist’ women on Facebook, asking whether they planned to react to offensive comments made by Civil Contract faction secretary Artur Hovhannisyan against opposition MP Taguhi Tovmasyan.
“Do you remember how Civil Contract women were deeply upset and outraged when an opposition MP called Anna Hakobyan ‘Pashinyan’s companion’? They considered it an attack on a woman. Ladies, feminists, do you have anything to say about Artur Hovhannisyan’s words? Or are you as principled ‘feminists’ as you are principled ‘democrats’ and ‘sovereigntists’? Have you noticed how quickly and successfully you corrupt every idea you try to associate yourselves with?” Vardanyan wrote.
Earlier, opposition female MPs issued a joint statement strongly condemning Hovhannisyan’s September 8 remarks directed at Taguhi Tovmasyan. They demanded a public apology from him and a targeted condemnation from the National Assembly leadership.
MP Taguhi Tovmasyan had also formally written to Speaker Alen Simonyan, stating that Hovhannisyan disrupted her press briefing while she spoke about Armenian prisoners being tortured in Baku. She demanded that he undergo mandatory daily drug testing before entering the parliament, with results made public.
In response, Hovhannisyan made a vulgar remark to reporters, saying: “If she allows herself to make such an indecent proposal unworthy of a woman, then I’ll suggest she take a daily STD test, so we can understand where those four houses of hers come from.”
