It Is Premature to Talk About the Creation of a Commission to Investigate the Circumstances of the War - Andranik Kocharyan

The report of the commission investigating the circumstances of the April War, consisting of 97 pages, has been submitted to the Speaker of the National Assembly, having been approved by the majority. This was stated by Andranik Kocharyan, the head of the investigative commission examining the military operations that took place in April 2016, during a conversation with journalists in the National Assembly.

“After that, if the relevant bodies see prosecutable acts or omissions, naturally, that will have consequences. Personally, I see shortcomings that should have been rectified immediately after the four-day war in 2016,” he said.

Regarding the question of whether a commission may be created to investigate the circumstances of this war, he noted that it is premature to speak on that matter, as there are various proposals. “I say that this will lead to the politicization and the best mechanism for depoliticization is to first pause for a moment and not to look for traitors,” he added.

According to him, in Yerevan, there is a perception that there is no awareness that we are facing a war unleashed by the adversary and that we have suffered a defeat as a result of that war. “Our demands from the army, from the military, are such that you know what, what are you doing, how are you talking about this or that village,” he remarked.

He emphasized that the generals should present how they acquired their properties. “All of them, the 14 generals, participated in our first war victories; it hasn’t been easy, but I don’t want to seek out guilty parties; let everyone think about why this war didn’t become Sardarapat,” he said, adding that when we talk about Shushi and Hadrut, we speak in such a way that it seems we want to turn our regular army into guerrilla units with our own hands.