On March 26, a video testimony was published as part of a report by local news site Epress.am. The video features Asya Khachatryan, a 19-year-old girl from Yerevan, describing the three-day, police-led harassment she experienced at the beginning of February in Artsakh’s capital city, Stepanakert. In the days since it was published, Khachatryan’s testimony has gone viral across local media, sparking a variety of responses, as it touches on a number of sensitive themes affecting Armenian society, including gender profiling, civil rights injustices, police brutality, and perhaps most notably, the possibility of anti-Armenian sentiment in Artsakh.
In a video testimony, Asya Khachatryan, a 19-year-old girl from Yerevan, describes the three-day, police-led harassment she experienced at the beginning of February in Artsakh’s capital city, Stepanakert
Khachatryan’s Testimony
Khachatryan, who had moved to Stepanakert at the beginning of 2018 to live and work there, says she was leaving work around midnight on Feb. 1, when she was first approached by local police officers, who began questioning her and instructed her to hand over documents, including her passport. She refused to concede her passport without proper cause, and when she asked officers what she had done wrong, they responded that it was unusual to see a girl out that late at night, and that, as Artsakh is a war-zone—whenever they see an unfamiliar face, they need to verify that person.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N0ncKbgKe0]
Her interactions with the police over the following days escalated after this initial encounter. The next day, she was detained at the police station after being approached by officers outside a Tashir Pizza and again refusing to hand over her passport. Khachatryan said she tried numerous times to emphasize her Armenian citizenship to the officers, who responded, “This is not your Armenia.”
The next day at 1 a.m., officers came to her apartment, which she shared with a female friend, and demanded entry, despite having no warrant or right to search. Upon entering the girls’ apartment, the officers conducted an invasive survey of the area, which included them inspecting her bathroom and refrigerator. Khachatryan said the officers also made snide remarks about her lifestyle, allegedly asking her whether she smoked and commenting, on the empty beer bottles in her kitchen, that “girls shouldn’t drink beer.”
Khachatryan and her roommate were then taken to the police department, where she was subjected to questioning. She demanded her right to to a phone call and was denied, at which point she refused to answer any more questions without a lawyer. This angered the officer detaining her and a physical altercation ensued, in which she was aggressively handled and slapped. She says her roommate, in a separate room, was also hit over the head and rendered unconscious.
Khachatryan says the officers were unable, throughout the course of her detention, to provide a legitimate explanation for why she was being detained, in the end stating, “Here [in Artsakh] we don’t have girls with blue hair going around smoking and walking alone at night… Imagine, we’re a warring country, we thought you might be a spy.”
After returning to Yerevan, Khachatryan made contact with Artsakh Ombudsman, Ruben Melikyan. She tells Epress.am in her testimony that after listening to her story, Melikyan said he would take punitive measures, but preferred to do so through routes which were not “official.” Hoping not to draw attention to the Armenia-Artsakh relations (as her story emphasized anti-Armenian sentiments amongst local authorities), Khachatryan says Melikyan offered to privately chastise the policemen who detained and harassed her.
Official Responses
Hours after the Epress.am article went live, Melikyan’s office published a statement to social media indicating the Ombudsman had initiated the process for investigating Khachatryan’s story and that if her statements proved truthful, “then the behavior of the Artsakh Republic Police Force is unacceptable and they should be held responsible to the fullest extent envisaged by law.”
The statement also disputed Khachatryan’s account, arguing her description of the phone call with Melikyan as “only partially accurate” and that “Mr. Melikyan clearly explained to Ms. Khachatryan all the effective legal remedies available. Furthermore, he has stated that he stands ready to pursue them all.” On March 28, the Ombudsman’s office published another statement indicating it had already begun the process of retrieving answers from local Artsakh law enforcement about Khachatryan’s story.
As of 09:53 p.m. on 03/28/2018: Following the publication of this review, an abridged interview with the spokesperson for the Republic of Artsakh, David Babayan, gave an interview with news site 168.am, confirming that noted that an official investigation into Khachatryan’s case had already begun, which was issued directly by President Bako Sahakyan. He also stated that speculations as to the abnormal state of “Karabakh-Armenia” relations were counterproductive and inaccurate.
Differing Perspectives in the Press
Several articles have appeared in local press outlets and on social media from members of the community taking stances on the controversy and debating its various implications.
Garbis Pashoyan, a journalist at Hraparak.am, writes that the situation is a bad sign for relations between Armenia and Artsakh. “They hit and discriminate against an Armenian girl in Artsakh and emphasize the fact that she is Armenian,” he argues, “but meanwhile, Artsakh is standing because of taxes paid by Asya Khachatryan.” Pashoyan warns that this might be a sign of increasing separation between Artsakh and Armenia, warns that “the people of Artsakh will start to consider themselves as a separate ethnic unit.” He suggests Armenians should be swift in condemning and taking punal action, so that it does not fester into something larger. “The sign ‘Free Artsakh Welcomes You’ stands in the soil because that soil is mixed with blood,” writes Pashoyan, “And that is Armenian blood.”
Political Analyst Stepan Danielyan writes on his Facebook page that this issue started the day Armenia declared itself independent from Artsakh—a political move that according to him, has turned Artsakh into “a curse and legal black hole for Armenia, which is used during illegal ‘elections’ as an ideological and physical baton over Armenia.”
Others suggest the issue is less about Armenia-Artsakh relations and more about broader civil liberties violations in the region. Tatul Hakobyan, the coordinator and editor of the Ani Research Center, writes that local authorities’ lack of respect for the rights of citizens is not limited to Artsakh, but also characterizes many parts of Armenia. Anna Pambukhchyan of “Conscious Citizens Association” also argues this is a case of human rights and democracy in Artsakh, which she believes are actually even more important there than they are in other places, because a foundation for democracy in Artsakh actually helps their position in the conflict with Azerbaijan (who is known for their human rights violations).
Meanwhile, on social media platforms, many individuals and grass roots womens’ organizations have argued that this issue is more about gender politics, as opposed to territorial politics, and signifies the restricted freedoms in both Armenia and Artsakh.
The post Media Review | 19-Year-Old Yerevan Girl’s Testimony Tells of Repeated Harassment by Artsakh Police appeared first on The Armenian Weekly.
Source: Armenian Weekly
Link: Media Review | 19-Year-Old Yerevan Girl’s Testimony Tells of Repeated Harassment by Artsakh Police