Opposition MP says Yerablur crackdown on fallen soldiers' parents 'will never be forgotten'

An Armenian opposition lawmaker on Tuesday accused the government of showing contempt for the country’s war dead, citing past scenes of bereaved parents being brutally detained at the Yerablur Military Pantheon and alleging repeated failures by the leadership to mark key memorial dates.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Tigran Abrahamyan, who represents the Pativ Unem faction, said images of fallen soldiers’ parents being dragged away and detained at Yerablur “will never be forgotten”, calling the episode a stain that reflects the Armenian leadership’s attitude toward those who defended the homeland.

Abrahamyan pointed out that Armenia’s political and military leaders did not visit Yerablur on September 13, the anniversary of Azerbaijan’s 2022 attack, nor on September 27, the anniversary of the outbreak of the 2020 war, despite the deaths of thousands in 2020 and several hundred more after the 2022 fighting.

“Glory to the homeland defenders! Eternal glory to all our martyrs!” he wrote.

His comments came as Armenia marked a national day of remembrance for those killed defending the country for the first time. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and other senior officials visited the Yerablur Military Pantheon earlier in the day.

The remembrance day was established through amendments to Armenia’s law on public holidays and memorial days, authored by deputy parliament speaker Ruben Rubinyan and independent MP Gegham Nazaryan.