ACCORDING TO ARMEN MARTIROSIAN, DECISION TO POSTPONE REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON INQUIRY INTO MARCH 1 EVENTS IS UNJUSTIFIED

Noyan Tapan
Oct 22, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 22, NOYAN TAPAN. The decision to postpone the report
of the National Assembly AD Hoc Committee on Inquiry into the March
1 Events is not justified, the leader of "Heritage" parliamentary
faction Armen Martirosian stated at the October 22 press conference.

According to him, during 7 months of its work, the committee did not
present any interim report. Besides, all the questions that worry the
society have remained unanswered. In his opinion, the only noteworthy
statement of the parliamentary ad hoc committee is the statement that
the operation in Liberty Square began before 7 am of March 1st.

A. Martirosian said that the decision on formation of the indicated
committee envisages the possibility of inviting only state officials.

However, within the framework of its inquiry, the committee has no
powers to invite the first president of Armenia who witnessed the
operation on the morning of March 1st, as well as the second Armenian
president. Whereas, as A. Martirosian said, it is quite obvious that
it was the second president – Robert Kocharian who could give an order
to fire at the peaceful demonstration. Otherewise, in the words of
A. Martirosian, one can assume that any Armenian policemen has the
right to fire.

As regards the current stage of the Karabakh conflict settlement, the
leader of "Heritage" noted that the Turkish president’s statememt,
according to which he had discussed the issue of the territories
around Nagorno Karabakh with Serzh Sargsian, causes distrust. The NA
deputy underlined the necessity of holding open public discussions
on this issue. In his words, the Armenian authorities must finally
inform the society about the current state of this issue.