On February 26, a group of demonstrators assembled in front of Armenia’s government building on Republic Square, to protest a statement made by the country’s Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan comparing women with potatoes.
A day earlier, during a consultation in the Shirak marz, Minister Karapetyan met with farmers and spoke to them about marketing and selling their products to vendors. He quipped that Armenian farmers had a traditional habit of holding on to their potatoes, hoping to get a better price for them post-harvest, until they rotted and then they couldn’t find anyone to buy their rotten potatoes. In an attempt to drive home the point he was trying to make, Karapetyan went on to remind the farmers of a saying: “When someone comes to want the girl, you must give her away.”
This statement caused a firestorm on social networks in the country. The protesters at the government building today, were demanding an apology from the minister. They had come with baskets of potatoes and banners that read, “We demand that he apologizes to all the girls in the Republic of Armenia,” “Minister, you can’t differentiate between a potato and a girl,” “Has your daughter heard what you said?” etc.
Some of the participants in the demonstration told CivilNet that a person occupying such a high-ranking position did not have the right to make such statements, regardless of his personal opinion. One of the protesters said that the world is progressing and moving toward gender parity and statements such as this are unacceptable.
The Agriculture Minister agreed to meet with some of the protesters and according to latest reports, Sergo Karapetyan promised that he would issue a public apology.
