Relatives of killed and missing servicemen demand meeting with prime minister

Relatives of killed and missing servicemen are protesting outside the government building. They demand a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The parents of the killed and missing servicemen have blocked Tigran Mets Avenue, showing disobedience, as no meeting has taken place yet. Police has cordoned the government building.

After a while, the protesters opened the avenue, the traffic resumed.

Speaking to reporters, the father of the killed soldier, Garik Mkhitaryan, said that there would be a meeting with the deputy chief of Police to find out if they can help to organize a meeting with the prime minister.

“Let’s try to meet with the deputy chief of Police. They promised that they might support us. We said that the meeting should take place within a week or 10 days because we understand that the prime minister’s schedule is very tight. We are not demanding an immediate meeting. We’ve been demanding ameeting for three months, we send those messages through different people, but nothing happens,”Garik Mkhitaryan said.

After the meeting with the deputy chief of Police of Yerevan, Garik Mkhitaryan said that they had a long discussion, now they are waiting for the results.

“As a result of a long discussion, they said, let’s see when we can contact the prime minister. We will wait for an hour, wait for the answer, after that we will take action. If there is no meeting within a week or ten days, if we were not told what day that meeting will take place, then we are going to take action,” he said.

He added that if they do not hear a clear answer as to when that meeting will take place, they will not leave the area, they are even ready to spend the night there.

“There are even parents who are preparing for a hunger strike. Relatives of other servicemen will join us.”