Onik Gasparyan Has Named Names, We Need to Hear Them to Understand What Happened Afterward - Civil Contract MP

There are accumulations in the direction of the Vardenis border, attempting to instill fear; however, there is no one to frighten, the army is in its position. Primarily small accumulations exist, there is no movement of equipment, just groups of people maneuvering; however, we must be prepared. This was stated by the MP of the 'Civil Contract' faction Gagik Melkonyan in an interview with 24News.

Addressing the work of the parliamentary commission investigating the circumstances of the 44-day war, the MP noted that the former head of the General Staff, General- Lieutenant Onik Gasparyan, presented the entire course of the war and many circumstances have come to light. 'Onik Gasparyan has named names, there were deputies and commanders whom we also need to hear in order to understand collectively what happened afterward. The Chief of General Staff Edward Asryan has also given testimonies about what intelligence reported before the 44-day war. In May, the Prime Minister will also come to the investigative committee, and others will present themselves too; I believe a law will be adopted that everyone must appear—Tiran Khachatryan, Artak Davtyan, and others.'

Regarding the recent meeting between Sergey Lavrov and Ararat Mirzoyan and the statement made by the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry that it was possible to stop the war in October 2020, but it was not done, Melkonyan noted that the Armenian side had agreed to end the war, but Azerbaijan did not agree. 'On October 17, our side agreed to Russia's proposal to stop the war, but Putin appealed to Aliyev, and he did not agree; Putin was unable to convince Aliyev to halt the war.'

As for the presence of the fifth column in the army, Melkonyan mentioned that under the dictates of Russia, the fifth column operated within the army to create panic and lead to defeat. 'In the early days of the war, conversations spread across the entire front that Nikol was giving away land, why are you fighting; at that time, Russia used the fifth column, and it worked brilliantly for them, panic entered the army. However, the column is still operational; there are criminal cases that need to be solved quickly, but the work is dragging on.'