I want to apologize to all citizens of the Republic of Armenia. The speaker of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan, wrote this on Facebook, referring to his spitting in the face of a Diaspora Armenian man who had called him a "traitor" in downtown Yerevan.

"Dear compatriots, friends:

considering that the incident that happened to me on the street continues to be discussed, I want to respond.

First of all, I would like to thank all the people who have supported me these days. And I want to close this conversation once and for all, not allowing such a domestic topic to continue circulating alongside the serious problems facing our country.

Yes, democracy implies that an official should and can be criticized; why not, provocations can also happen. Our task is not to give in to them.

I regret that I got angry from the personal insult directed at me. I am sure that any Armenian person with dignity would not tolerate such an insult, but the high responsibility placed on an elected official shall have a restraining role.

This is also a lesson for me because, most likely, I and other representatives of our [political] team will face similar situations in the future, too.

Also, this is a proper occasion for the political opposition that the latter review its rhetoric, its tactics of inflicting personal insults, and return to the field of civilized debate.

In connection with this incident, I want to apologize to all the CITIZENS of the Republic of Armenia," wrote Simonyan.