Epress.am News from Armenia
A meeting between journalists and military expert Ruben Martirosyan (pictured) on Saturday quickly turned into a war of words, resulting in some of the journalists opting to boycott the press conference. Some members of the media claimed the press conference was "anti-national"; in other words, against the nation's interests.
At the press conference, Martirosyan said he doesn't trust the statements issued by Armenia's Ministry of Defense, except for those which announce the start of the (annual) military draft. Martirosyan said that many incidents of murder in Armenia's army are covered up and presented as suicides. Journalists became enraged when the military expert said that in some of these cases the Ministry of Defense claims the soldier was killed by Azeris.
Martirosyan recalled the cases of Albert Adibekyan, Zorik Margaryan, Arman Gharakhanyan, and Khachatur Melikyan: immediately after the deaths of these soldiers, the defense ministry issued a statement saying they were a result of Azerbaijani "sabotage attacks," but it was later discovered that some of the deaths occurred without enemy intervention; indictments were drawn up and people were arrested (according to Martirosyan, innocent soldiers). In one incident, the case was quashed.
Some of the journalists present began to wonder whether Martirosyan was doubting the more recent shooting incident on the frontline, which resulted in the death of Armen Hovhannisyan, and whether Martirosyan could say so "looking into the eyes of Hovhannisyan's parents."
"Yes, we know what happens, but you can't make such anti-national statements," said one journalist who left the meeting.
Attorney Mushegh Shushanyan, also a guest at the press conference, intervened: "This is not about denying the incursion but that in some cases there is information being circulated about incursions, based on which claims are put forward, and later it becomes proven that those claims were false, but they are not denied."