A group of some 100 protesters included members of ARF youth, students, and lecturers from different universities.
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The protest was sparked by the minister’s proposed legislation which cuts Armenian language, literature & history from the mandatory curriculum of the country’s universities.
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“We are concerned about our culture, education and science. Minister Arayik Harutyunyan has nothing to do with culture, education, science or sport,” Gevorg Gyulumyan, a student of the Yerevan State University, told reporters during a protest demanding the resignation of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Minister Arayik Harutyunyan.
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The protesting student stressed they are not engaged in any ‘political’ game, but are only concerned about the Armenian culture and education.
He stated there is an ongoing campaign against Armenian studies, as best evidenced by the fact that the Aghbyur magazine was denied funding last year ‘at the hands of’ the minster, whereas another magazine called Khatutik the content of which is full of grammatical, spelling, punctuation and stylistic errors, was released.
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“Arayik Harutyunyan treats culture the way Sultan [Abdul] Hamid did. He is short of funds for films telling about national dances, but has 2.7 million drams for street, impudent dances or 20 million drams for a film telling about a transgender person,” he stressed. “All this allows us to conclude that Arayik Harutyunyan must leave.”
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The protesters also voiced displeasure that the ministry spent 2.7 Million AMD ($5,650 USD) on a play called “Emotions and the Bell” Arguing it promoted unpatriotic and non-traditional sexual behavior. A video of the performance caused an uproar on social media, with some accusing the play of promoting satanism.
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Leaving a cabinet meeting, Arayik Harutyunyan, Armenia’s Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport said he has no intention of resigning and would only do so if he felt he wasn’t executing his responsibilities effectively.
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H/T Hetq & Panorama