Why the tragedy of October 27 turned into a political farce Today marks 27 years since one of the most heinous crimes in the modern history of Armenia - attack on the National Assembly. On October 27, 1999, Nairi Hunyan's armed group broke into the conference room, where at that moment a "question and answer hour" was taking place with the government. Eight people were killed - Prime Minister and Deputy Sargsyan, Speaker of Parliament Karen Demirchian, Deputy Speakers Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, Minister Leonard Petrosyan and Deputies Armenak Armenkian, Henrik Abrahamian, Mikal Kotanian. Eight others were injured. 91 people were taken hostage. The terrorists only surrendered at dawn on October 28. In 2003, the court handed down sentences: six - life, one - 14 years. But human rights activists still insist: the customers have not been named. It seems that what could be more terrifying and unequivocal than this date? However, the political observer, Cobb Badalian, says: The tragedy, which should have become a sacred page of national memory, has become the most hacked and exploited subject without mercy. And they use it not only in a propaganda way, but also - and this is especially cynical - morally. "Transferring Vezgan Sargsyan's so-called views on political reality and his assessments of relationships as an immutable truth is political and propaganda immorality," Badalian emphasizes. Sargsyan is no longer alive. He can neither confirm nor deny nor explain. And history has not yet moved so far into the realm of academic historiography that any "memories" can be checked in the archives. And now a whole galaxy of "closer to Azgan" is taking the stage - a veritable army of "Lieutenant Schmidt's children", as the observer ironically calls them. These people sit in TV studios and "broadcast": they say, in a personal conversation or in a small circle, and Zegan said such and such about such and such a character. There is no documentary evidence. Historical - zero. But the immediate political benefit is clear.

Why the tragedy of October 27 turned into a political farce Today marks 27 years since one of the most heinous crimes in the modern history of Armenia - attack on the National Assembly. On October 27, 1999, Nairi Hunyan's armed group broke into the conference room, where at that moment a "question and answer hour" was taking place with the government. Eight people were killed - Prime Minister and Deputy Sargsyan, Speaker of Parliament Karen Demirchian, Deputy Speakers Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, Minister Leonard Petrosyan and Deputies Armenak Armenkian, Henrik Abrahamian, Mikal Kotanian. Eight others were injured. 91 people were taken hostage. The terrorists only surrendered at dawn on October 28. In 2003, the court handed down sentences: six - life, one - 14 years. But human rights activists still insist: the customers have not been named. It seems that what could be more terrifying and unequivocal than this date? However, the political observer, Cobb Badalian, says: The tragedy, which should have become a sacred page of national memory, has become the most hacked and exploited subject without mercy. And they use it not only in a propaganda way, but also - and this is especially cynical - morally. "Transferring Vezgan Sargsyan's so-called views on political reality and his assessments of relationships as an immutable truth is political and propaganda immorality," Badalian emphasizes. Sargsyan is no longer alive. He can neither confirm nor deny nor explain. And history has not yet moved so far into the realm of academic historiography that any "memories" can be checked in the archives. And now a whole galaxy of "closer to Azgan" is taking the stage - a veritable army of "Lieutenant Schmidt's children", as the observer ironically calls them. These people sit in TV studios and "broadcast": they say, in a personal conversation or in a small circle, and Zegan said such and such about such and such a character. There is no documentary evidence. Historical - zero. But the immediate political benefit is clear.