“I'm sorry that I lost my cool because of the personal insult directed at me,” Simonian said in a statement posted on Facebook.
“In connection with this incident, I want to apologize to all CITIZENS of the Republic of Armenia,” he wrote.
Garen Megerdichian, the Canadian-Armenian activist who shouted the insult at Simonian on Sunday, is reportedly not an Armenian citizen, meaning that the speaker’s apology may not have been addressed to him.
Megerdichian says that Simonian ordered his bodyguards to overpower him and then spat in his face at a popular dining area of central Yerevan.
Simonian, who is also a senior member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, has not denied spitting at Megerdichian. He was unrepentant about his behavior until the apology, saying that he was gravely insulted and responded accordingly.
Armenian opposition leaders have strongly condemned Simonian. Former President Levon Ter-Petrosian said on Tuesday that he must be ousted for his “unforgivable deed.”
Several civic groups added their voice to the condemnations on Wednesday. One of them also demanded that prosecutors open a “hooliganism” case against Simonian and investigate the legality of Megerdichian’s brief detention by police.
As of Thursday afternoon, Armenia’s Office of the Prosecutor-General did not respond to the “crime report” submitted by the Union of Informed Citizens.
Neither Pashinian nor his party’s governing board has criticized Simonian over the incident.
Simonian, 43, is no stranger to controversy. In late 2021, he made disparaging comments about Armenian soldiers taken prisoner during the 2020 war with Azerbaijan, angering their families. Last year, Simonian defended his mother after she was caught on camera spitting at opposition protesters and showing the middle finger to them from the balcony of her Yerevan apartment.
