Andranik Kocharyan: Robert Kocharyan Didn't Mention a Key Detail About October 27 in His Book

Former Deputy Minister of Defense and Acting Deputy Prime Minister Vahan Shirkhanyan sent an open letter yesterday to Robert Kocharyan, who is charged in the March 1 case. Shirkhanyan stated, "Robert, since you don’t want to see, understand, or comprehend your real place, value, and role in Armenian reality, and you refer to your collection of lies as a book, I want to refresh your memory with a few episodes," while accusing Kocharyan of budget theft, intentions to exchange Meghri with Lachin, and falsifying presidential election results.

The Armenian Times spoke with Andranik Kocharyan, a deputy from the "My Step" faction, former First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, and former First Deputy Minister of Defense.

– Mr. Kocharyan, Vahan Shirkhanyan has raised several serious accusations against Robert Kocharyan in his open letter. Is it possible to initiate criminal cases regarding the illegalities and potential crimes from those years now, or is there an expiration issue?

– Of course, there may be an expiration issue, but cases can be initiated depending on when the accusations were made. However, this letter paints a picture of the negative role that Robert Kocharyan has played throughout our country's governance, perhaps even till now. Because the means he accumulated during his tenure are now being used, as I see it, to weaken our country's power through various informational means. Shirkhanyan's open letter is a response to the lies presented in Robert Kocharyan’s book, to everything he wants to accuse people of who simply cannot be involved in those accusations. Shirkhanyan counters, saying that Kocharyan must respond to these accusations, and as far as I’m aware, I can say that these accusations are absolute truth.

– Vahan Shirkhanyan also wrote about the falsification of the 1998 presidential election results, specifically stating that Robert Kocharyan took his 27 percent of votes and turned it into 59 percent, while the 73 percent received by Karen Demirchyan was "generously" reduced to 41 percent. You, being in power, why didn’t you prevent the election fraud?

– The issue of election fraud started back when Kocharyan, not being a citizen of Armenia, illegally proposed his candidacy. There is nothing to discuss there; the Armenian people know it by heart, and that is why Kocharyan has always been rejected by our people. At that time, there was a very dangerous situation from a security perspective, and Vazgen Sargsyan was forced to make concessions to ensure that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue would not lead to further weakening, and he even tolerated these disgraceful elections. But he showed his disagreement when he joined Karen Demirchyan during the parliamentary elections, to at least create a counterbalance to the illegally captured power. But in the end, we saw how this conflict manifested in the ruling power.

– Mr. Kocharyan, today there is also a public demand to uncover October 27. Can we expect such disclosures soon?

– I have always lived with this, and all those guys who cannot tolerate the sight of a criminal hitting the country’s prime minister with an automatic rifle have lived with it. Every blow was against our state, severing the two branches of power; every blow against Vazgen was a blow against our dignity. And today, not uncovering October 27 is simply impossible. Now we are revealing March 1, which creates the opportunity to also uncover the crimes that occurred before it, including the crime like October 27, which has no parallel. Regarding the process of uncovering, I don’t want to rush. These are serious issues. Americans, for example, asked until 2040 to provide their citizens with all information regarding Kennedy’s assassination. We shouldn’t hurry because there may have been many geopolitical issues that, when revealed, we will understand where we went wrong, why our state was decapitated, whether it was merely a power struggle or if other forces were behind it. This issue must be resolved calmly, but the goal must be the same: the uncovering of October 27. And Kocharyan didn’t say something important about October 27 in his book: what was he discussing with Nairi Hunanyan?

– There is still unconfirmed information that the recording of that conversation has been preserved, and one copy of the recording was once with Tigran Naghdyal. What information do you have on this?

– It cannot not exist. I am convinced that it must have been recorded if the NSS was in charge of ensuring security during the meeting inside that building. That recording still needs to be found, but it’s a matter for investigation.

Kocharyan’s issue has always been about destroying all possibilities for revealing the crime while eliminating terrorists. Instead of declaring a state of emergency in the country at that time, he introduced it on March 1. On October 27, what did he know about which groups had infiltrated or what actions they were going to take? He should have definitely used the forces, but that was not done on his part, and it was done thanks to key figures in Vazgen Sargsyan’s government. The Ministry of Defense closed the country’s borders to prevent possible developments. Now, Kocharyan is in a position where he must also respond to these questions, whether he likes it or not, they will also relate to discussions about Meghri, because that means our country had a leader who considered the option of giving away Meghri, which is equivalent to treason — to make Armenia's border a subject of discussion.

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