Artsakh Deputy Prime Minister on Berdzor events:
The Artsakh public TV Company has interviewed on Tuesday Artsakh’s Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Aghabekyan in connection with the weekend events near Berdzor, a border town in Artsakh. On Saturday, January 31, the only TV in Artsakh showed a video about the incident which did not show the actual events that occurred during the automobile rally organized by the Founding Parliament movement. Without saying anything about the beating of the rally participants, the author of the video said ‘an unpleasant and undesirable incident had happened.’ The same words were uttered by [Artsakh President] Bako Sahakyan during a consultation top government officials, who said the action organized by the Founding Parliament had elicited widespread public displeasure in Artsakh and that the police had been called out to prevent clashes between Kashatagh residents and the convoy participants. Artsakh TV talked to Arthur Aghabekyan after the consultation. During the interview Mr Aghabekyan, who announced a few months ago about his intention to run for presidency in Artsakh, made it clear that the ruling elite in Artsakh had been involved in stopping Zhirayr Sefilyan and his friends from entering the country. They had held telephone negotiations and meetings, attempting to dissuade them from holding the action, but all in vain. “The President said in our presence, “I cannot allow the action to take place. I cannot allow the people of Artsakh to be involved in political process taking place in Armenia,” Mr Aghabekyan said. On January 31, members of the Founding Parliament, a radical opposition initiative seeking a regime change in Armenia, tried to enter Karabakh in order to carry out a protest demonstration there. Near Berdzor, they were stopped by local police and masked special forces who forcefully blocked their access to the territory of Karabakh. Some of the participants, including Zhirayr Sefilyan, a former commander of the Shushi special detachment, political analyst Igor Muradyan and other freedom fighters were beaten.
