Wednesday,
Armenia Mourns Victims Of Yerevan Market Explosion As Search For Survivors
Continues
Armenia’s national flag on a government building in Yerevan flying at half-staff
with a black ribbon as the country observes a two-day mourning for victims of
the August14 market explosion.
Armenia is mourning the victims of the Surmalu market explosion in Yerevan in
which at least16 people died and more than six dozen others were injured on
August 14, as rescue works continue to search for missing people.
The government has declared August 17 and 18 days of national mourning for the
victims.
Floral tributes near the scene of the August 14 explosion at the Surmalu market
in Yerevan.
National flags at government buildings have been lowered to half-staff as people
brought floral tributes to the scene of the tragedy.
The cause of the blast is still being investigated.
Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Artush Grigorian said on August 17 that
workers were focusing all their efforts on finding any survivors under the
debris.
Of the 16 bodies so far recovered, 15 have been identified. Two people are
considered missing, but ministry officials believe that the unidentified person
found dead might be one of them.
Emergency Situations Minister Armen Pambukhchian said earlier that authorities
“practically ruled out” terrorism as a cause of the incident.
A blast and subsequent fire at Surmalu sent a towering cloud of smoke over the
Armenian capital on August 14, videos shared on social media showed.
The explosion was in an area where fireworks and other pyrotechnics are stored.
Russia Decries ‘False Accusations’ In Armenian Media Over Yerevan Market Blast
• Nane Sahakian
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) receives Russian Ambassador to
Armenia Sergey Kopyrkin in Yerevan, May 27, 2022.
The Russian embassy in Armenia has sent a note to the South Caucasus country’s
Foreign Ministry over what it described as “false accusations” related to the
recent explosion and fire at a Yerevan market in which at least 16 people were
killed and dozens others were injured.
“We are outraged by the cynical fake reports in the local media, containing
blasphemous and false accusations against Russian structures in connection with
the August 14 tragedy at the Surmalu shopping center,” the embassy said in a
statement released on Wednesday.
“We consider this as a direct provocation by the political forces behind such
insinuations aimed at undermining Russian-Armenian allied relations. We expect
the Armenian authorities to take steps aimed at preventing such unfriendly
manifestations, including necessary public comments,” it added, without naming
any political party or group or referring to any particular media report.
The Russian embassy stressed that through the Russian-Armenian Humanitarian
Response Center “the Russian side has been involved in the work on the
elimination of the consequences of the tragedy from the very first minute.”
The Armenian Foreign Ministry or other officials have not yet publicly responded
to the note sent the Russian embassy.
Vahan Hunanian, a spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service that “if there is a comment on the statement of the Russian
embassy, it will be published, and journalists will get to know about it.”
Although the Russian embassy did not name any political party or group in
Armenia that made accusations against Russia over the Surmalu explosion, it may
have referred to the extra-parliamentary National Democratic Axis (NDA) party,
whose senior member Hayk Martirosian in one of his interviews claimed that there
were suspicions that the explosion was actually a terrorist act.
A supporter of the NDA in a Facebook post also claimed, referring to Armenia’s
current position in the processes over Nagorno-Karabakh, that “the Russians will
blow up half of Armenia with fireworks until it capitulates.”
Garegin Chukaszian, a representative of the Sasna Tsrer group who is also a
member of the NDA board, however, said that he would not believe that the
Russian embassy meant their political force unless there was a specification
from a state-run Russian news agency.
Garegin Chukaszian
“It wasn’t a direct accusation, because if you make a direct accusation you have
to prove it. But if the hat fits, well, let them wear it,” he said.
On August 16, the NDA issued a statement not directly concerning the Surmalu
incident. In that statement the party said that “false alerts about bombs
planted in state and public facilities pursue a clear goal of sowing panic and
creating chaos.” The NDA went on to say that it believed that the actions were
“being guided and managed from one center, the colonizer, whose goal is to
create panic ahead of a new concession.”
Chukaszian confirmed that Sasna Tsrer and the NDA believe that foreign forces
are behind these actions that he claimed are aimed at diverting public attention
from upcoming “ethnic cleansings” against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Sasna Tsrer representative referred to fact that Armenian residents of two
villages situated along the Lachin corridor, which links the region to Armenia
and is controlled by Russian peacekeepers deployed in the area under the terms
of a Moscow-brokered ceasefire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, have
been told to leave their homes until the end of the month. The villages are to
be handed over to Azerbaijan as part of the ceasefire agreement.
August 17 and 18 are declared days of national mourning for the victims of the
Surmalu market explosion in Armenia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the world leaders who responded to
the news of the deadly explosion and fire at the Yerevan market by sending his
condolences to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Pashinian Ally Advocates Ban On Sale Of Fireworks In Armenia
Armenia - Tigran Avinian, a member of the Civil Contract party board. Yerevan,
.
A senior member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s political party has spoken
in favor of banning the sale of fireworks in Armenia three days after a major
explosion and fire at a fireworks warehouse in a popular market has killed 16
people in Yerevan.
“That tough decision must be made,” said former deputy prime minister Tigran
Avinian on Wednesday, speaking to reporters near the site of the tragedy in
which dozens of other people were injured on August 14.
Avinian, whom Pashinian’s Civil Contract party plans to nominate as a mayoral
candidate in next year’s municipal elections in Yerevan, said that he believed
that the use of fireworks in Armenia must be limited to official events
organized by state or local government bodies.
“This [tragic incident] is an occasion for us to think about making changes in
our culture of celebrating our birthdays, holding baptism and wedding parties
when it comes to the use of fireworks,” Avinian said.
Armenian Minister of Emergency Situations Armen Pambukhchian said late on
Tuesday that according to preliminary information up to four tons of explosive
materials were stored within the premises of the Surmalu market, which is
located within just two kilometers from the center of Yerevan.
Earlier the minister said that ignition and fire in a small area likely had
caused a powerful explosion in the fireworks warehouse that triggered a massive
blaze in the sprawling market. While it is still unclear what exactly caused the
explosion, Pambukhchian said Armenia’s authorities “practically ruled out”
terrorism.
A partially collapsed three-storey building of a fireworks warehouse at the
Surmalu market in Yerevan. .
It took firefighters more than two days to contain the fire. As of Wednesday
morning, rescuers were still looking for one missing person inside a three-story
building of the warehouse that had partially collapsed as a result of the
explosion and fire.
Armenia declared two days of national mourning on August 17-18 for the victims
of the explosion.
Avinian, who came to the scene of the tragedy today to lay flowers there in
memory of the victims, reminded that the issue of limiting the use of fireworks
in Armenia was already discussed by the government in 2021. He said that the
issue is likely to be raised in the parliament when lawmakers reconvene after
their summer recess in September.
“I hope that for our society, for our city this was some sobering moment,”
Avinian said, acknowledging that a possible ban on the private use of fireworks
will also concern a large business sector that he said will also need to be
“listened to.”
In a Facebook post on August 16 Avinian also stressed that the sale of fireworks
and firecrackers should be banned in Armenia. Earlier, on the day after the
explosion, pro-government lawmaker Arsen Torosian, who served as Armenia’s
health minister in 2018-2021, also made a similar post on Facebook.
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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