After leader of the Armenian Aryan Union Armen Avetisyan commented on the list of homosexual Armenian government officials, many of them started to date girls in public in order for the people not to suspect them.
“I’ve seen it with my own two eyes,” says PR specialist and head of the “PArt” agency Karen Kocharyan during our conversation. The sad thing is that, in Armenian reality, political figures don’t talk about how corrupted or non-professional this or that figure is in order to lower that person’s reputation -you won’t offend anyone by saying that in Armenia. Talking about a given functionary is enough for society to pay attention. The people like hearing these kinds of stories and go into the details. Years ago, Armenian presses attracted the people’s attention by writing about Minister of Economy and Finances Vartan Khachatryan. Khachatryan had a weakness for getting intimate with strip-tease dancers. The next event that added a little “spice” was at the National Assembly, when Mher Shahgeldyan and MP Hakob Hakobyan from Etchmiadzin offended each other. The basis for the offensive remarks was once again sexual orientation and tradition. Things got heated up and moved to a “man-to-man” debate (this kind of debate is characterized by some fighting and shaking hands in the end). Next came MP Arshak Sadoyan, who touched upon Minister of Justice David Harutyunyan’s sexuality after mentioning the reasons why the “ArmenTel” transaction didn’t go as planned. David Harutyunyan was generous enough not to respond to the offensive remarks. Now Victor Dallakyan and Hamlet Harutyunyan have decided that Central Bank president Tigran Sargsyan’s sexual orientation is to blame for the dollar exchange rate decline. The lack of arguments and professionalism motivates Armenian political figures to hit “below the belt”. Nobody responds to the blows (they don’t make it to the courtroom), so, they can be repeated.
“The stupid alcoholic”
The American “Globe” magazine once again touches upon the quarrels between alcoholic George Bush and his wife. Americans are curious to know if they will divorce. However, Republicans have made the people understand that the U.S. presidential elections are in two years, that Bush’s reputation will go down and there will be no divorce just because of some family problems. So, poor Laura Bush must be on her husband’s side at all times and pretend that there is nobody better than her husband. This goes to show you that in America and Europe, the moral image of presidents and functionaries are under the control of the societies. We saw this during the well-known story behind former U.S. president Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, no matter how much experts say that this was just PR.
You can be a scoundrel, but never homosexual
What’s going on in Armenia? According to experts, the president’s families (neither Ter-Petrosyan’s nor Kocharyan’s) are not like that. Karen Kocharyan is of the opinion that it’s not right to get into the personal life of the president or the average person. Whereas the people and the paparazzi always surround celebrities in America or Europe, in Armenia there is a ban on the spread of any kind of information from close sources.
“Armenian television is under control. You will never hear about someone seeing this or that state official with his lover or in some club. Not many people read the newspapers, so even if the newspapers write about that from time to time, the only answer is that it’s far-fetched from the reality.”
What’s interesting is that the person publicly making offensive remarks has never been sued by the so-called offender. According to K. Kocharyan, this is because people don’t know the laws. But that’s not the only reason. The court system of Armenia proves that people only want to sue the other in extreme conditions. If the state official is offended and has the opportunity to speak from the National Assembly podium, it’s better to say “you’re the stupid one” in front of everyone in a highly offensive tone.
“Tigran Sargsyan also said that the people making wrong comments about him are like that. The MPs who used to say that “you’ll see what happens when Tigran comes” didn’t say a word,” said K. Kocharyan in regard to the latest events.
Based on Armenian mentality, if an official betrays his wife and has a lover, he shouldn’t be condemned.
“Sometimes that’s even considered a sign of manhood. If he doesn’t abandon his family, takes care of his wife and children, sends them on trips abroad and has a lover on the side, then he is a working man,” says K. Kocharyan.
Armenians also don’t consider corruption as negative-“A man has to earn a living some way, doesn’t he?”
According to experts, Armenian society doesn’t accept homosexuals and drug addicts. You can’t throw the Armenian political figure’s reputation down with any other crime.
“The parliamentary elections are coming up and I’m sure many humiliating things will be revealed.”
That’s interesting.