The Context of the March 1 Killings Revealed: Nikol Pashinyan

While the perpetrators of the shootings on March 1 remain unidentified, the context in which these murders occurred has been revealed. This was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a rally on March 1 in Republic Square.

“For 13 years, public events have been held in Armenia on March 1. Following the events of March 1, 2008, these gatherings have taken place to commemorate the 10 victims. However, we welcome March 1, 2021, in a completely different situation. The severe consequences of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, the fact of our thousands of casualties, the presence of our missing persons, and the plight of many of our brothers and sisters who are captives, alongside the continuous incitement of violence, as well as attempts to drag the Armed Forces and the judiciary into political processes, have presented us with new challenges. These challenges are of a security, foreign policy, regional, and domestic nature; managing these challenges is crucial for the future of our country and nation,” Pashinyan stated.

“We have now reached a point where we can no longer afford the luxury of making mistakes. Over the 31 years of our independence, we have made every possible mistake, theoretically and practically. In the last 2 years and 10 months, we have also made every possible mistake, referring to our Government, personally, myself. I want to apologize to all of you, to all citizens of the Republic of Armenia, to our compatriots in the diaspora, and to all citizens of the Republic of Artsakh for the mistakes I have made. I have thought a lot about where I have gone wrong. Specific cases can certainly be listed, but it is more important to consider why we made mistakes, and why our political team erred. As strange as it may sound, one of the greatest reasons for our mistakes has been our popularity as a government; we were so beloved that, in our desire to justify that popular love, and our love for the people and the homeland, we wanted to do everything accurately and perfectly. The quest for perfection in many cases led to inaction; when the situation demanded, we had to make the choice between bad and worse, but we refused to make that choice, believing that the people did not bring us to power to present them with the bad or the worst. The people brought us to power so that we could create a choice between good and the best, and while we made efforts to create a choice between good and the best, it turned out that the presence of bad and worse was so rooted and deep that the choice was irrefutable and irreversible; the best choice had to be the choice of bad,” he said.

“However, unfortunately, mistakes have not only been made by our government, and as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, I want to apologize to our people for all the mistakes of all the governments of the Third Republic. But I do not want this to sound like regret; instead, I want it to resonate as a sign of our determination that we, the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, will never give up in our struggle for a free and happy Armenia,” Pashinyan continued.

According to Pashinyan, in addition to mistakes, they have also had achievements. “One of the crucial achievements we have is the power of the people, the right to form power by the people, and all the crises we have must be resolved not at the expense of the people's constitutional power, but rather, conversely, through the reaffirmation of the people's power. The right of the people to form power should be at no risk. Only the people in the Republic of Armenia should decide who is in power and who is not. The crux of our current crisis is this: they want to seize the people's power, and we have gathered in the square to say that we will not allow that,” he declared.

Pashinyan emphasized that March 1, 2008, was an important juncture in the struggle for the power of the people: “On March 1, 2008, the government at the time sent the army against the people, deciding to shoot Armenian citizens. It is important to note that there are individuals charged in this case who are currently standing before the court, and I must note that, in my opinion, the March 1 case is essentially clear. Many ask how the March 1 case can be considered revealed when the murders are not disclosed. My opinion and personal assessment is that, true, the shooters are not identified, but the murders, and the context in which they took place, are clear. This will clearly be evident in the trial process of the case. These circumstances must be properly examined and assessed by the court within the framework of appropriate legal processes. This understanding is the reason why all possible and impossible measures are being taken by the defense team of the accused in the March 1 case to prolong the trial, with the aim of preventing the examination of the evidence in the case, that is, to keep many nuances and truths from becoming public. They are evidently stalling for time. For what reason are they stalling that time? Because some hope that, just as in the past they seized the power belonging to the people, they now also hope to achieve that same seizure. And the core truth of the revelations of the March 1 case is that the authorities in 2008 used the army against the people, utilizing the army to prevent the will of the people from being expressed. It is in this context that the murders occurred. The perpetrators of the murders did not target specific individuals by name but targeted Armenian citizens so that they would not even think about having power in Armenia. The murderers have not been identified to this day also because immediately after the events of March 1, the investigative bodies collected the fired cartridges from the scene and replaced them with bullets fired by other individuals in different locations. The government at that time ensured that the potential evidence of these murders and other illegal actions disappeared and was destroyed. Why? The answers to these questions will be answered during the trial of the March 1 case,” he concluded.