They met in the Armenian parliament behind the closed doors one month after dozens of relatives blocked a major street in Yerevan to protest against a lack of information about government efforts to ascertain the soldiers’ fate. Senior lawmakers promised after that protest to organize such a meeting with state officials dealing with the matter.
More than 80 parents and other relatives of the missing soldiers attended it. Sixteen of them were allowed to sit in the parliament’s main auditorium and put questions to National Security Service Director Armen Abazian, the heads of three other law-enforcement agencies and other officials. The others watched the discussion from the parliament’s press gallery.
Several parents interviewed by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service afterwards said they were not satisfied with what they heard from the officials. But another participant was more positive.
Asked whether he thinks the Armenian authorities are taking steps to answer the lingering questions, he said: “They are. They will reply on Monday.”
“It was a very important discussion, very important for all of us,” said Andranik Kocharian, the chairman of the parliament committee on defense and security. He gave no details.
Kocharian also told reporters that the participants agreed to meet again within a month.
According to the Armenian authorities, some 195 Armenian soldiers and civilians remain unaccounted for. Some of their families still hope that their loved ones are alive.