When the military prosecutor holds a press conference, it is quite natural that normal journalists, those who express the public interest, would ask about murders and violence in the army. Neither the society, not else, respectively, those journalists care for the statistics about how the prosecutor’s office has fulfilled and overfulfilled its plans. Current military prosecutor Gevorg Kostanyan, who is an educated man knowing languages and certainly saw how press conferences are held in the Western countries, decided to host a press conference here, in Armenia, personally and thus avoid unwanted questions. Although Mr. Kostanyan knows that quite well, but I am compelled to remind that press conferences are hosted by the press secretary of the given institution, a man, whose obligations are in particular communicating with journalists and classifying issues, according to their urgency. In open and even half-open, as ours, societies the more the answers to those questions are, the easier the work of the given institution is.
In my opinion, in any issue it is equally wrong to conceal problems and deceive the society, on one hand, and to gain dividends at the expense of misfortunes or just speak and protest, not having any rational solution in hand, on the other. Particularly when it comes to the issue of the army. Cases of violence in the army, compared to 1998-99, have decreased dramatically, even Artur Sakunts admits that. However, will that statistics be a consolation to any relative, if it is obvious that his son was murdered and it is also obvious that they are trying to conceal that murder? The military prosecutor is one of those men who must be responsible for that. To be frank, I don’t like, when mass media horrify relatives of current servicemen and make equally terrifying predictions, in order to make their articles interesting, either. It seems to me that transparency is the way out. If, for example, “Yeghnikner” (deers) is our riskiest military base, then what prevents them from systematically, let’s say once a week, sending a mass media representative there? Certainly those journalists must be aware of not only human rights and humanitarian issues, but also the state and its security. I think the presence of mass media representatives will sober both soldiers and officers. High-ranking officials of the armed forces, including the military prosecutor, will understand that we are not enemies of the army. On the contrary.
ARAMABRAHAMYAN
