Recently, during the TV program “The Issue of the Country”, the former Mayor of Goris Samvel Harutyunyan provided details on various incidents relating to the Governor of Syunik Marz Suren Khachatryan. He also told about an episode with Vazgen Manukyan’s behavior. In 1992, when Suren Khachatryan was the conventional commander of the battalion, he had to be in the positions as the battalion commanders at that time were in the
positions, but instead he began to pursue Samvel Harutyunyan who unwittingly had become a Mayor. According to the latter, he was sitting in the City Hall, when one day Suren Khachatryan commenced an “armed attack” to defenseless City Hall and seized the building: “Vazgen Manukyan, then, was the Minister of Defense, the next day he came on helicopter. And the interesting thing was that Suren Khachatryan really captured the building. That was the only military success of Suren Khachatryan: military occupation of defenseless City Hall of Goris Marz. I do not know any other military success. I know miscarriages, failures when he was a conventional commander of the battalion.” According to Samvel Harutyunyan’s words, Vazgen Manukyan’s interference in the case did nothing, a few months later the Supreme Court examined the case and upheld a fine.
In a talk with Aravot.am, Vazgen Manukyan confirmed that there was indeed such a story, but he denied that he was one of the sponsors of Suren Khachatryan. “Samvel Harutyunyan has truly described the case, there really is such a thing. I then told Liska that he need to go to the front, to Karabakh, for 3 months as a penalty. Then, Vazgen Sargsyan asked me to postpone for a month, a month later he again came and asked to postpone for another month and then it was forgotten, and so it passed away.” We clarified whether Your fault is there that he was liberated only by a penalty after such a step, he said, – “There is no bases for it. I took him out, told him to go to Karabakh front to redeem, but Vazgen Sargsyan asked me: once he asked, for the second time, for the third time I was already away from the war in 1993. You asked, I answered.” To our question of how he interprets the events in Goris, and where Suren Khachatryan’s remission comes from, he refused to comment, saying, – “Whatever referred to me, I told you. Now, I do not want to give assessments. Now I do not want to enter into those things. I denied what was not true about me, I do not care about other things. ”
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Hripsime Jebejyan
Photo from https://vazgenmanukyan.am
