You No Longer Hold Power, Gentlemen: Edmon Marukyan

LHK leader Edmon Marukyan writes on his Facebook page: "These days, citizens are asking each other and us one question: 'How did it come to this?', 'Where have we reached?'. Many are still searching for their loved ones, hoping to find them alive or wounded, or at least deceased, but to find them.

After the war ended, every hour we see absurd posts and live broadcasts on Prime Minister Pashinyan's Facebook page. Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan and Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan had interviews on Public Television. Each is trying to explain the situation in their monologues, each trying to state that they did their utmost arising from their position.

The question of 'How did it come to this?' or 'What is my fault?' is being answered by these gentlemen, but the statements from each seem to be testimonies against one another—sharply contradictory and filled with falsehoods.

You no longer hold power, gentlemen, and you will respond to these questions in a completely different format. It is evident that this disgraceful chapter will be discussed and examined for years. We will not allow for the public to receive only monologues in place of testimonies.

A fact-finding group must be established in Armenia to investigate the period of preparation for the war, analyze the start of the war, and examine the circumstances of every shell, platoon, and soldier's loss. The fact-finding group will investigate the negotiation process, the proposals made by the Armenian side, and the justification of the decisions made.

This disgraceful chapter in history cannot be closed with superficial evaluations and the superficial consequences that arise from them. We must understand, episode by episode, how we lost so many lives, why we have so many injured and missing, and finally, how we lost thousands of square kilometers of the Republic of Artsakh and how we committed to granting a corridor to Azerbaijan through the territory of the Republic of Armenia leading to Nakhchivan.

This process should become the cornerstone of our state's restoration.