Putin’s Call Proves, Sargsyan’s Statement “Not Worth a Dime”

Gyumri residents saved the face of Armenia and the Armenian authorities, said ethnologist Hranush Kharatyan during a press conference at the Media Center today, January 19. According to her, it was only after the uprisings in Gyumri that the authorities began to respond adequately to the incidents in Gyumri, and that’s when Vladimir Putin called.

“Whether there was a call or not, it does not matter. Basically, if Gyumri did not react, then people would remember that massacre as a crime done by a madman, the issue would not formulate. Armenian civil society’s issue with the Russian military base would not formulate,” said Hranush Kharatyan.

According to her, the pretense that “if there was no Russian base, the Turks would eat us” is trying to silence Armenians, while the Russian base, according to Kharatyan, is actually there to keep balance in the region against NATO forces placed in Turkey.

The ethnologist said that it was odd that right after the massacre the issues of “not politicizing” or “not planting anti-Russian ideas” were put forward within the society.

“It was very odd when people spoke unnecessarily about something that really didn’t exist. The Russian the military base is found in Gyumri and it's natural that it would have implications for Gyumri residents. Of course, no sort of phobias should exist in Armenia. However, how do you not speak about Russians, if the suspect was handed over to the Russians. The people are only demanding that Armenian law enforcement bodies investigate the case, it’s understandable that they don’t trust either side, but dignity is a big issue,” said Kharatyan. She believes that a wave of anger can lead to a lynch mob which would lead to a death of a person, whose guilt has not been proven to a large portion of the Armenian public.

Referring back to Putin’s phone call, Kharatyan said that the call proved that Serzh Sargsyan’s statement is not “worth a dime”.

Note, that on the day of the crime, Serzh Sargsyan invited a council and promised to take responsibility of the investigation. During the phone call, Putin assured that the criminal would be punished severely.

“Putin could have made such a statement for his court, but not for Armenia’s,” said Kharatyan.

Recall, on January 12th, 6 members of the Avetisyan family were murdered in Gyumri. A Russian soldier from the 102-military base, Valery Permyakov, is the primary suspect of the case.