ARF Dashnaktsutyun must "send a strong message", or else is tarnished with this "heinous act" (re neo-nazi attack on DIY and Dashnak MP in Armenia supporting hate crime)

It is important to understand that this is much broader attack on freedom and values in Armenia. 

[HATE CRIME: DIY bar in Armenia capital Yerevan under neo-nazi arson attack]

[MPs of ARF Dashnaktsutyun party bail out neo-nazi attacker of DIY bar. Dashnak MP Artsvik Minasyan supports arson attack, effectively encouraging terrorism in Armenia]

We need more voices like this from Diaspora. Now.

*Letter to The Armenian Weekly: The ARF Should Send a Strong Message

The ARF has been part of my bloodline. I never knew of a time when I wasn’t associated with it. During most of my life, I was involved in it. It is with great pain and distress that I learn that members of the Armenian Parliament, who are ARF members, have bailed out men who attacked a gay bar in Yerevan (or, at least, a bar that is open to the gay community).

There’s only one thing to do, only one possible ethical act that could follow this action: ARF members who are proud to be part of an organization that champions equality and justice must demand the ARF to castigate these members of the organization for the shameful way they acted. Unless that is done, the ARF is tarnished with this heinous act. One cannot in clean conscience rage for equality and social justice while promoting not only homophobia, but active violence against homosexuals. [...]

The ARF must send a strong message. It must send the message that homosexuality is actually part of the Armenian identity, too, just like it is part of the identity of every nation, and of the species and of nature as a whole. The rejection of one tenth of the human population is the stupidest basis for a national identity that could possibly be fathomed. Unless the ARF is willing to send this message, it is tainted, and it should not complain if it is painted with a very wide brush.

Simon Beugekian
Boston, Mass.