Former Artsakh Ombudsman calls to avoid hate speech

PanARMENIAN.Net - Former Artsakh Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan, responding to expressions of hatred against Artsakh Armenians and the reactions to them, has urged not to generalize or feed into the hate narrative. In a Facebook post, he emphasized the importance of not contributing to the machinery of hate.

He noted that the Armenian public, as a whole, does not condone the spread of hatred toward Artsakh Armenians.

“One important observation: after the National Assembly Speaker’s remark—‘you should’ve stayed and fought’—he was forced to revise his statement. A lawmaker’s brother, after saying ‘Are you Armenian or from Karabakh?’ had to come up with some form of justification. The wife of the Public Radio director issued an apology following her anti-Artsakh post. All of this is the result of public condemnation and backlash. This shows that, overall, Armenian society does not align with the anti-Artsakh hate campaign,” Stepanyan wrote.

“Therefore, dear compatriots from Artsakh, we must never generalize or pour water into the mill of hate-mongers. No matter how many fake accounts, various media outlets, or petty propagandists try to divide us and spread hate, I will continue to thank my fellow citizens and firmly believe that there should be no divisions among us. My conviction is grounded in the support, love, and respect I’ve received from my university classmates, professors, friends, colleagues, and many others,” he added.

Earlier, in response to a question from an Artsakh journalist about when it would be possible to return to Artsakh, National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan replied: “When it’s safe.” He added, “You shouldn’t have left—you should’ve stayed and fought.”