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“We are concerned about our culture, education and science. Minister Arayik Harutyunyan has nothing to do with culture, education, science or sport,” Gevorg Gyulumyan, a student of the Yerevan State University, told reporters during a protest demanding the resignation of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Minister Arayik Harutyunyan.

The protest staged by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Youth Union of Armenia in front of the government building, was sparked by the minister’s proposed legislation which cuts the subjects of Armenian language, literature and history from the mandatory curriculum of the country’s universities.

The protesting student stressed they are not engaged in any ‘political’ game, but are only concerned about the Armenian culture and education.

He stated there is an ongoing campaign against Armenian studies, as best evidenced by the fact that the Aghbyur magazine was denied funding last year ‘at the hands of’ the minster, whereas another magazine called Khatutik the content of which is full of grammatical, spelling, punctuation and stylistic errors, was released.

“Arayik Harutyunyan treats culture the way Sultan [Abdul] Hamid did. He is short of funds for films telling about national dances, but has 2.7 million drams for street, impudentdances or 20 million drams for a film telling about a transgender person,” he stressed. “All this allows us to conclude that Arayik Harutyunyan must leave.”