16 Years since October 27 Attack

• 10.27.2015, 16:29
•  Armenia

16 years have passed since the terrible terrorist attack on the Armenian National Assembly on October 27, 1999. 16 years ago six armed men entered the building of the Armenia’s Parliament and shot dead the country's top leaders, among them Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchyan, Deputy Speakers Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, Minister of Operative Affairs Leonard Petrosyan as well as MPs Armenak Armenakyan, Henrikh Abrahamyan, and Mikayel Kotanyan. At least eight people were wounded during the attack.

The armed group captured 91 people, most of them deputies. There were also journalists among the captives who at that time were covering the session.  The Parliament stuff was set free only the next morning when the terrorists gave up. The armed group was led by Nairi Hunanyan.

Hunanyan and others were sentenced to life in prison. However, it should be noted that the investigation did not fully answer the main question: who were the organizers of the attack?

This is the reason why the tragic events of "October 27" have become the subject of political speculations. There are different versions about the attack, but leaving aside the question, who could benefit from this terror, it should be mentioned that it had quite serious and negative impact on Armenia's domestic politics as well as foreign policy.

Domestically "October 27" resulted  in the increased  distrust between the government and the opposition. In terms of foreign policy it had negative impact on the world trust towards Armenia. It also negatively affected the negotiation process of Karabakh conflict as it was organized at the time of  geopolitical importance for Armenia.

It is noteworthy to state that in 2005 the former Russian intelligence scandalous agent Alexander Litvinenko in the interview to the Azerbaijani weekly "Real Azerbaijan" said the aim of "October 27" terror attack was the preventing of the signing of Karabakh settlement agreement.

One thing is clear: "October 27" is one of the most serious shocks in Armenia’s modern history which left its mark on  the whole political system.