Useless Commission, Useless Work: What Do We Have Five Years After the Four-Day War

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the April 2016 war. While it seemed that the April war should serve as a lesson for all governments, the subsequent 44-day war in 2020 had even more painful consequences, and we suffered irreparable losses.

Prior to the 44-day war, the current authorities promised to unveil the actions of previous administrations, and even set up a parliamentary inquiry commission to investigate the circumstances of the military operations that took place in April 2016. Temporary chairman Andranik Kocharyan boasted that they would make disclosures about how the war under previous administrations was caused by a lack of weapons and ammunition, and so on. The leader of the Republican Party of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, even visited the commission. However, after nearly two years of activity, we are faced with a situation where the conclusions of the April inquiry commission were never published, and furthermore, it became apparent during the investigations that many things were simply myths.

Former Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan stated, "Every military event is analyzed, and the results are summarized. Do you think the April war was not analyzed? Were lessons not learned? Undoubtedly, civilian oversight over the Armed Forces, a new, fresh perspective might suggest something, but I say again, if I were in that position, I would not have formed that commission." In response, commission member Kristine Poghosyan said, "Seyran Ohanyan is in despair, let him take tranquilizers and calmly sit in his place."

But after all this, Andranik Kocharyan's commission failed to fulfill its mandate, and the publication of its conclusions became illegal. After the 44-day war, there arose a necessity to examine the actions of the current authorities. It should be noted that the process of handing over our lands began in 2016 with the height of Lele Tepe.