Embassy of the Russian Federation, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

On 5 June 2006 a few dozen young Armenians and representatives of Civil Society assembled outside the Russian Embassy in Yerevan to protest against an unprecedented number of attacks against Armenians and other nationalities in Russia. It was also encouraging to see a number of Armenian-Americans also turning out, although it has to be said that the police and security at the Embassy acted like jerks.

Anyway, after handing in a petition and distributing leaflets that also criticized the Russian authorities for failing to take action against those nationalist and racist groups believed to be responsible for the attacks, the protestors then marched to stage a demonstration outside the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Armenia. Thanks to Nessuna for informing me about today’s action.

The text of the leaflets handed out read as follows:

Statement

The repeated occurrence of virulent racism and xenophobia in Russia in recent years is of great concern. In 2005 alone, 28 persons from ethnic groups other than Russian were murdered and another 402 such persons were assaulted and battered by racist groups. Targeted predominantly are persons who come from the Caucasus and Central Asia, with Armenians constituting a large number among those. Nationalist groups make anti-Armenian pronouncements. They committed ethnic hostility-motivated murders of six young Armenian young men in 2006 in Moscow alone. Yevgeny Baghdasarian, Hayk Dolukhanian, Harutiun Galstian, Robert Feroyan and Vigen Abrahamiants were among their victims as was Arthur Sardarian, the most recent victim murdered on May 25.

The fact that racist and fascist groups operate in an unimpeded fashion and that criminal acts and murders go for the most part unpunished gives grounds to believe that the said groups operate under the patronage of certain State structures of the Russian Federation. We, the representatives of the Armenian non-governmental organizations and the citizens of Armenia, condemn strongly the actions of the racist group raging in Russia and inadequate steps taken with respect to them and demand that the Russian Federation authorities should take prompt action to detain the murderers and bring them to justice.

Helsinki Committee of Armenia, NGO
For Science Development Initiative Group
Collaboration for Democracy, NGO
Free Forum for Civil Initiatives, NGO
Legal Center Forum, NGO
Citadel, NGO
Hope, NGO
Student Council of American University of Armenia
Yeritac Youth, NGO
World Independent Youth Union, NGO

Meanwhile, A1 Plus reports that similar actions were also being held in Moscow. Unfortunately, as was the case here in Yerevan, it doesn’t look as though many people turned out. It appears to be politically expedient for some to decry attacks in Georgia while remaining silent about many more incidents in Russia. In fact, both are wrong.

The Armenian community of Moscow has started a series of rallies in memory of the victims of the skinheads. The organizers of one of the rallies were young people from the Armenian community of Moscow and the nearby areas.

Students and lecturers of the Moscow State University, representatives of NGOs and members of the Armenian Intellectuals’ Union participated in the rally. By the way, the Union of Armenians in Russia refrained from participating in the June 3 rally saying that it was not allowed by the authorities, newspaper «Yerkramas» informs.

Still, that today’s event occured at all is positive, and not least since media attention was significant. I can remember seeing the ARF-D linked Yerkir Media TV there along with some other stations, but can’t recall if Public TV was present. If anyone watches the news tonight please post a comment on whether it reported on the demonstration.

It’s also worth pointing you in the direction of two posts by Nessuna on this subject matter. In addition to posting something on this blog recently, she also posted a news item on the latest murder of an Armenian in Moscow on her own blog. Anna Saghabalyan from RFE/RL was also present today so if there’s anything in English later on I’ll post it and also some more pics.

Embassy of the Russian Federation, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Armenian Foreign Ministry, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006