My Step deputy and the chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defense and Security, Andranik Kocharyan, announced during the plenary session of parliament that is he convinced that the report gathered by the Inquiry Committee for Examining the Circumstances of the Military Activities of April 2016 must be made available to everyone. “Our colleagues were right when they said that you cannot have grenade launchers without understanding the logic of modern warfare, and without having an army that can withstand for at least 40 days. Our military warehouses should have had a higher capacity and more content. Why were we able to hold onto Omar so well? We used the same militia. It was because they had a commander. Why were we able to hold onto other places? We even had cases of surrender. Why was the Defense Army able to carry out its tasks in any case? Thanks to our soldiers. I am proud of our army. We did not have much artillery left at the last minute in Shushi and when the ceasefire was imposed. Our anti-aircraft and artillery units, as well as those we acquired, were destroyed within the first few days. So, they had great intelligence units. They knew locations starting from the headquarters of the Defense Army commander. But, the war lasted forty days.”
He continued. “Our soldiers displayed an indescribable sense of heroism, but it was fading. In addition to that, we needed a political solution. We will have time to discuss whether or not there were political solutions, and whether or not they were late. I have been telling myself to stay calm. We all need to stay calm. I promise to initiate very serious discussions with the committee.”
Andranik Kocharyan suggested that Armenia did not learn lessons from the April War. “The Minister of Defense is also responsible. Everyone else is also responsible. The ministry needed to get its affairs in order sooner,” he added.
Luiza Sukiasyan
