Serj Sargsyan Has Nothing to Hide from the Public, Sharmazanov Says

The third President of Armenia, Serj Sargsyan, has nothing to hide from the public. This was stated by the spokesperson of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), Eduard Sharmazanov, during a press conference, addressing the question of whether Sargsyan would go to the investigative commission studying the circumstances of the April war.

“There are discussions about whether Serj Sargsyan will go to that commission or not. Everyone knows that Sargsyan has nothing to hide from the public. However, another question is the very establishment of that commission. I believe it is absurd to create a commission for a war in which you won. All those who think otherwise in this regard are pouring water into Azerbaijan’s mill,” he said.

According to him, instead of examining one of the statements by former Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, the investigative commission should examine the statements made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Sharmazanov noted that it is necessary to invite Pashinyan to this commission and clarify the source of his statements.

“When Pashinyan stated that the April war occurred for the purpose of bringing Azerbaijan into the EAEU with Russia's tacit approval, where did he get that information? Throughout these months, the commission has invited everyone except for Pashinyan, who has provided the most valuable information,” he stated.

The RPA spokesperson emphasized that it is evident that the work of the April investigative commission is farcical, and their goal is solely to cast a shadow over the victory.

It is noteworthy that the chair of the April investigative commission, Andranik Kocharyan, had mentioned that he even expects to invite Serj Sargsyan to the commission without a refusal. On May 20, 2019, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated in the National Assembly about the necessity to create an investigative commission to study the circumstances of the April war. Pashinyan declared that “the time has come to establish a National Assembly investigative commission to examine the circumstances of the April 2016 war.” Later, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ararat Mirzoyan, announced that the powers of the investigative commission created to study the circumstances of the military operations in April 2016 would be implemented by the NA Standing Committee on Defense and Security. The investigative commission is led by the chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Defense and Security, Andranik Kocharyan.