Papikyan Prohibits Opposition MPs from Visiting Quarterly Assembly Locations

For nearly a year, the Ministry of Defense has been rejecting applications from opposition lawmakers to visit the locations of quarterly training gatherings and military units to familiarize themselves with the conditions on the ground. This was stated to 24News by Gegham Manukyan, a member of the National Assembly from the 'Armenia' faction.

The lawmaker noted that there was one exception when the 'Armenia' faction requested to visit military units to congratulate soldiers for the New Year. 'Some ruling party lawmakers also joined this initiative. In other cases, we have faced rejections. And the reason for the rejections is clear— the Ministry of Defense does not want informed lawmakers to be present on-site to observe the situation,' he said. 'Additionally, it has been frequently mentioned that the recruitments for these quarterly gatherings were significantly influenced by political inclinations, and this fact could have been documented on-site, thus the Ministry of Defense did not allow visits to the gathering locations.'

According to Gegham Manukyan, it was particularly disheartening that Defense Minister Suren Papikyan justified the rejections by stating that the Ministry of Defense does not find the visits appropriate, as the participants of the gathering are supposedly in a phase of 'adjustment and acclimatization to conditions, on the front line.' He added, 'Everyone has been called up together, some are already on the front line. There are numerous questions whose answers could be obtained on-site, but unfortunately, permission was not granted.'

He concluded by mentioning that the 'Resistance' movement has a Defense and Security Commission led by Seyran Ohanyan. Ohanyan had preliminary approval, but when they were ready to depart for Kapan, there was no cooperation from the Ministry of Defense and the local military command to visit local military units in the Syunik area.