Levon Ter-Petrosyan calls for parliament speaker’s ouster over scandal

Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosyan on Tuesday called for the dismissal of Alen Simonyan as parliament speaker following a scandal in central Yerevan on Sunday.

Simonyan came under fire after he spat at opposition activist Garen Megerdichian who branded him a “traitor” in the Yerevan Cascade, a popular pedestrian area.

Megerdichian claimed that Simonyan ordered his bodyguards to grab his hands before swearing at him and spitting in his face. He was then briefly detained by police.

In a statement on Tuesday, Ter-Petrosyan condemned Simonyan for the “disgusting” and “unforgivable” act.

He strongly urged the ruling Civil Contract party to initiate Simonyan’s ouster “in order not to entirely lose its reputation in people’s eyes.”

“His act inflicted the biggest damage on the state’s image, which can be reversed only through his remova