Pashinyan defends TV concert broadcast on war anniversary

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressed the absence of standalone state commemorations on the anniversary of the 44-day war and defended Public Television's decision to air an entertainment concert on September 27.

Speaking at an October 1 briefing, Pashinyan stated that wartime events have been exhaustively debated across domestic political spheres over the past five years. He noted that national history includes numerous tragic milestones that are not commemorated individually, highlighting the establishment of a single Memorial Day to honor casualties across past confrontations, including the April 2016 four-day clashes and the September 13, 2022 border fighting.

Dismissing criticism over the broadcast, Pashinyan argued that heavy casualties occurred daily throughout the conflict, remarking that if every tragic date precluded entertainment, 360 days of the year could be designated as days of tragedy.