are military training programs in partnership with Germany and that tolerance courses within are related to ethics, the fight against corruption, tolerance, and so on. The site, however, commented the interview in a way it was convenient to them, writing, “In fact, the Ministry of Defense keeps secret even the names of the seminars organized for the commanders, making them a military secret. By the way, according to our information, there is an officer among the participants of the seminar, who was even punished for harassing a serviceman with non-traditional sexual orientation”112. Hovhannes Galajyan, editor-in-chief of Iravunk newspaper, tried to link it with the interests of LGBT people as part of his campaign against the constitutional changes, trying to discredit the need to change the Constitution and its real purpose. In this context, he particularly wrote that in the “yes” campaigning there are LGBT forums organized and “different Zhoujus” are engaged [refers to Zhouju from Dalarik, who became famous from the program “Semi-Open Windows”, whose story of discrimination became the subject of ridicule both on the air and later in the society]113.
Targeting LGBT people during the war unleashed by Azerbaijan On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan unleashed a large-scale armed conflict along the entire Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact in the regions adjacent to NagornoKarabakh. The war was hard, the people of Armenia and Artsakh were fighting against a great Azerbaijani-Turkish force. The whole potential of the people was focused on neutralizing the war and its aftermath. In addition to volunteering, people were involved in multi-profile volunteer work to provide both social and other assistance to war victims and participants in the war. Both the population of Armenia and the territory of Artsakh, as well as LGBT people were involved in both military operations and volunteer work. And despite these difficult conditions, when the national security of the entire state and the lives of the population were at risk, many continued to target LGBT people and sow hatred against them. Hostile posts were especially prevalent on social media. Below are some examples. “The gays must be sent to the front line urgently. The hair of one of them falls [expression in Armenian meaning little harm] the whole world will condemn Azerbaijan”114. “I say maybe we should take to Stepanakert [Capital of Nagorno Karabakh]a few blacks, those blue-haired girls, a couple of fags [uses Russian derogatory term ‘goluboy’], that gender-changed Lilit or Varsham that came to Parliement and make an uproar that Azerbaijan threatens Artsakh’s blacks (racism) and LGBT representatives, 112 Hraparak.am. “The officers went to Germany to learn how to communicate with sexual minorities”. 2020. https://hraparak.am/post/6befc7d42a6dd70ed94b86b00238856b. [Accessed 29 Sept 2021]. 113 Iravunk.com. “Forward toward “country-AIDS-info”. 2020. https://iravunk.com/?p=106402&l=am. [Accessed 29 Sept 2021]. 114 Ughetsuyts TV channel. Facebook page. 2020. https://www.facebook.com/ughecuyc/photos /a.667659806689392/3147603105361704/. [Accessed 29 Sept 2021].
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