Anna Hakobyan: "Women Are Hit, Not Protected" in Armenia

"In our reality, women are mostly hit, not protected, and you have hundreds of thousands of fellow sufferers in this matter." This was written by the wife of the RA Prime Minister, Anna Hakobyan, on her social media page. In the same post, Hakobyan expressed her support for the wives and daughters of a number of figures imprisoned in the RA and on trial in Baku.

"I express my support to the wife and daughter of Samvel Karapetyan, because when the husband is in prison, enjoying the laurels of heroization, the wife suffers and is tormented a thousand times more. And how daughters love is a known thing for fathers. I express my support to the wives of Ruben, Bako, Arayik and the others, who, I am sure, in this difficult phase of their lives, are forced to withstand the condemnation of their surroundings, saying: 'Look where her husband is, and she is talking, speaking, enjoying herself.' I express my support to Taguhi Tovmasyan, whose appearance brutal, vulgar, and ignorant men have for several years now turned into a means of self-assertion for themselves.

I express my support to the opposition female MPs, artists, singers, bloggers, journalists.

I express my support to Anahit Avanesyan, all other female officials, as well as the wives of male officials, who receive blows to their appearance and morality due to their gender and have no protection from any side.

I express my support to Nane Israyelyan, Nane Arzumanyan and all female journalists, who are again under constant attack due to their political taste and the fact that they are women.

I express my support to the soul of the woman who died two days ago from the knife blows of her maniac husband, which now, surely, is not at peace, hearing how the surroundings have most likely read the verdict of what happened as follows: well, she probably drove the poor man out of his mind.

I express my support to all women who are subjected to silent violence every day and cannot talk about it, because they have no protection.

I do not express my support to the nurturing mothers and grandmothers of clans in Armenia, under whose 'high' patronage of the black skirt the culture of violence is passed down from generation to generation. It is they who, with their heavy silence and scolding glances, and more often with direct words, encourage their sons and grandsons to commit violence against their own wives. And this happens under the obscurantist discourse of 'It's a shame, what will the neighbor, the relative say, won't they say what kind of man are you?'

I do not express my support to men. It is true that they are the first, biggest victims of the culture of violence, but they do not even try at some stage of their lives to use their brains and understand what happened to them, when and how," Anna Hakobyan wrote in particular.