«If protesters enter state buildings, we will protect them even by shooting» - Andranik Kocharyan

Armenia could not enter a state of war, it is evident. The Armenian armed forces still have a way to go to make Armenia's borders impregnable. This was stated by Andranik Kocharyan, the chairman of the National Assembly's Defense and Security Committee, in an interview with Factor.am, referring to why Armenia did not enter military operations to try to protect the 120,000 Armenians in Artsakh.

Regarding the opposition's actions in Yerevan, Andranik Kocharyan said: “A difficult situation has arisen in Artsakh, while everyone in the streets of Yerevan is trying to solve issues of power. You can see how much youth there is; I assume most of them are originally from Artsakh, but the burden has been borne by our compatriots living in Artsakh. Now it would be very honest if at least this youth standing in the streets of Yerevan participated in solving our security problems of Armenia. For example, the armed forces are conducting the processes of forming our reserve, holding 25-day gatherings, and extensive military engineering works are being done, where foreigners are working in our place. I now consider those foreigners to be more of compatriots than our own brothers from India,” he stated, noting that the processes occurring in the streets of Yerevan are even being managed by Margarita Simonyan.

“Margarita Simonyan and some unclear figures settled in foreign shores have moved the hybrid war to Armenia to solve issues of power. Now the question arises: Were we expecting that processes would start in Evlakh, and not by the Armenian authorities, so that we can solve the issue of power in Yerevan?” added the ruling party member.

He also addressed the rallies in Yerevan and democracy. “You won’t find such democracy anywhere, where they throw stones at police officers, and then the police say: don’t hit, and they respond: how can we not, what about democracy, don’t we have the right to throw stones? No, you don’t have that right.”

In response to the remark that they have not yet entered buildings as the ruling power did in 2018, Andranik Kocharyan replied: “Oh, they should have gone into buildings! In 2018, the government should have managed to protect itself; why couldn’t it? The government must be able to protect itself and the state. That’s why there are institutions.”

To the question of whether it is possible that in such a scenario the government would fire on protesters, he said: “I say the preservation of state institutions is under the jurisdiction of state services. If they enter state buildings, the protection of those buildings falls within those rights of protection.”

To the follow-up question of whether that includes shooting, the ruling party figure replied affirmatively: “Of course.”