Ministry of Defense of Armenia refused burying remains of ASALA  fighter Pierre Gyulumyan in Yerablur

ArmInfo.The remains of a soldier of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia  (ASALA) Pierre Gyulumyan were temporarily buried at the Shahumyan cemetery in Yerevan.

According to the Central Council of the Armenian People's Movement,  on May 21, after the completion of the Holy Liturgy, in the presence  of the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II and high-ranking  clergymen of the Armenian Apostolic Church, a memorial service was  held for Pierre Gyulumyan in the Church of St. Gayane in the Mother  See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

On the same day, in the presence of relatives and a group of comrades  who arrived in Armenia from different countries, the remains of  Pierre Gyulumyan were temporarily buried at the Shahumyan cemetery in  Yerevan.  "40 years after his death - in early December last year, at  the request of the family and at the initiative of our organization,  the remains of Gyulumyan were transferred from Paris to his homeland.   The remains of the fighter who died on August 2, 1982 in Paris as a  result of an accident were to be buried in the Yerablur military  pantheon - in a memorial dedicated to the heroes of ASALA, where the  tombstone of the deceased has been set for 23 years.

However, on the morning of May 19, the current authorities of  Armenia, represented by a high-ranking official from the Ministry of  Defense, on their own initiative met with our representative,  referred to the imperatives of the process of normalizing  Armenian-Turkish relations and, citing unfounded and far- fetched  arguments, officially announced that the burial of Gyulumyan's  remains in " Yerablur" is not authorized," the central council said  in a statement.