Gegam Manukyan, a member of the “Hayastan” bloc in the Armenian parliament, apologized to Armenia’s Kurdish community for the incorrect statement made by Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan.

Axar.az reports that during the opening of the parliament's next four-day session, Manukyan expressed that he expected a clear condemnation of Avinyan’s rude expression "Kurd in a cap" – a phrase meaning “simple, narrow-minded person” used by the “Civil Contract” faction.

In response, parliament speaker Alen Simonyan attempted to justify the mayor’s statement, saying that there are expressions in speech that are not intended to insult any nation.

“I am not sure that Mr. Avinyan intended to offend any ethnic group,” Simonyan said.

He also reminded that Manukyan himself had made offensive statements in the past, particularly posting inappropriate remarks about the voters of the Civil Contract party on his social media page.