April War Casualties Total 75, Says Defense Ministry Spokesperson

It is crucial to clarify the concepts of the events of April 4 and the subsequent developments. This was stated by the spokesperson of the Armenian Defense Ministry, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, in an interview with Tert.am, addressing the question of how many casualties the Armenian armed forces had during the April War of 2016.

“When stating the number of casualties, we need to focus on the first 4 days, because the intensity of the battles occurred during those 4 days. If we begin to count the losses from the following days, we could end up calculating the entire year's casualties. Over these three years, there have been fluctuations of tension, with some incursions resulting in two to three casualties, followed by a decrease in intensity,” he explained.

“Therefore, if we are talking about April casualties, it would be more accurate to focus on the first 4 days; if we are fixing the losses from those days, then the number of casualties is 75—61 servicemen, half of whom were officers, 12 were from the territorial defense forces, and 2 were reservists. The territorial defense and reservists are not regular service members but came to serve, although many did not even manage to start their service,” he added, noting that there were also 4 civilian casualties, including one child and three elderly individuals.

Artsrun Hovhannisyan called for a more reserved approach when discussing human lives and casualties. “People say there have been hundreds of casualties, but it is unacceptable to state it that way,” he emphasized.

In response to a clarifying question regarding whether those injured in the first 4 days and later deceased are included in the 75 casualties, he answered, “Fortunately, we do not have such a large number. I cannot state that definitively because some individuals died much later.”