There is no coordinated fact-finding activity for aftermath of recent Artsakh war – Ara Zohrabyan
Chairman of Armenia’s Chamber of Advocates Ara Zohrabyan on Tuesday said there is no coordinated fact-finding activity for the consequences of the recent Artsakh war.
“This is an important issue. We need to competently collect the facts to be able to present our claims in the future. Disorganized work is being carried out everywhere in this regard,” he told a news conference.
Zohrabyan said that the offices of both the Armenian and Artsakh ombudsmen carried out a fact-finding mission, adding during the war the Chamber of Advocates also conducted a fact-finding mission in Artsakh and has already collected facts about 53 objects.
He underlined that in the future, when international claims are made, only oral statements are not enough, some evidence will be needed.
“It is necessary to overcome the evidentiary threshold and collect certain information in line with it,” he stressed.
Zohrabyan said that at this point he and some of his colleagues are involved in a fact-finding mission and have started to collect testimonies of those affected by the war.
“Why do I attach importance to the coordinated nature of the fact-finding activity? Imagine if we had a large and unified database in connection with the events of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire. For instance, the Jews did so; they competently created the database and presented it to the world correctly, naturally receiving widespread recognition (referring to the Holocaust). We failed to do it. It's time to embark on the right path and move forward,” he said, urging the authorities to launch a coordinated process.