Monday, October 27 2014

 On Monday the Armenian authorities commemorated the victims of the Oct 27 1999 terrorist act in the Armenian Parliament.

After laying flowers to their memorial, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan said that he has no doubts who was the organizer of the  act.  "If people have doubts, relevant authorities must try to dispel them but I am confident that the crime has been disclosed," he said.

The son of one of the victims of the act, Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Karen Demirchyan, Stepan Demirchyan said that a lot was done to sweep the case under the carpet. "As a result, nobody today believes that there was nobody behind the terrorists," he said.

Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Galust Sahakyan said that the executors of the crime are known but their guiders are not. 
Among those who paid tribute to the memory of the victims was the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who first visited the grave of Karen Demirchyan and then the grave of Vazgen Sargsyan. 

Oct 27 1999 a group of terrorists led by Nairi Hunanyan broke into the Armenian Parliament. Hunanyan approached Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and said, "Stop sucking our blood!"

Sargsyan said calmly, "We are doing this all for you and the future of your children." Hunanyan replied by opening fire. As a result, he and his accomplices killed Vazgen Sargsyan, Speaker of the Parliament Karen Demirchyan, his deputies Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, minister Leonard Petrosyan, MPs Armenak Armenakyan, Mikayel Kotanyan and Henrik Abrahamyan and wounded MPs hermine Naghdalyan, Andranik Manukyan, Armen Khachatryan, Edmond Tsaturyan, Zhirayr Gevorgyan, Emma Khudabashyan and minister Pavel Galtakhchyan. Several ministers and MPs were taken hostages.  A few hours later the Parliament building was already cordoned by the police.

President Robert Kocharyan met with Hunanyan tete-a-tete, so, nobody knows what they talked about. 

By morning the terrorists were guaranteed security and surrendered. 

During subsequent trial Hunanyan explained that Vazgen Sargsyan was dictating his will to the people and was not going to punish those who had robbed them for years. So, he decided that only force could tame those who were used to solving all problems by means of force.