Head of the Bright Armenia faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Edmon Marukyan posted the following on his Facebook page today:

“The Sardarapat Memorial is only open for the ruling party, and other political parties can’t send at least one of their representatives to pay tribute to our heroes.”

In regard to this Facebook post, Armenian News-NEWS.am talked to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Spokesperson Mane Gevorgyan.

“First, this was the initiative of the Ministry of Defense, and second, there was no event as such in order for the government to send invitations to opposition and non-opposition politicians. The Commandant’s Office for the state of emergency had made an announcement stating that the entrance to Sardarapat Memorial was going to be closed, and it was closed so that there wouldn’t be accumulation of people. If any political party or political figure wanted to go to Sardarapat Memorial, they could have addressed the Commandant’s Office in advanced, and the Commandant’s Office would consider the request. If it found it appropriate, it would have organized a visit for them, in observance of all the safety rules, but since the Commandant’s Office didn’t even receive an application, I don’t understand the real purpose of Edmon Marukyan’s Facebook post,” Gevorgyan said.