Relatives of people who have gone missing during the conflict with Azerbaijan have ended a three-day protest against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s decision to dismiss Armen Abazyan, the head of the National Security Service and the commission responsible for finding missing Armenians.
The protesters began their demonstration on Wednesday, the same day Abazyan was dismissed. They had blocked a section of Baghramyan Avenue adjacent to Armenia’s Parliament.
They decided to end their protest and unblock the avenue ‘as a mutual compromise’ on Friday afternoon after meeting with the head of the NSS’s military counterintelligence department, Davit Sanamayan, who promised them a meeting with officials. It is unclear which officials the relatives of the missing persons will meet.
Sanamayan and Deputy Police Chief Artur Khudinyan had previously attempted and failed to persuade them to end their protest.
On Wednesday, they also staged a protest near the Armenian Government’s headquarters, while the next day they attempted to block Heratsi Street in Yerevan, but were prevented from doing so by police.
On Friday, protesters told the media that they had requested a meeting with the official currently responsible for the issue of missing persons.
‘We need to listen to the person who will deal with the issues of our missing boys, whoever that person is, let them come, we [can] go [to meet them]’, RFE/RL quoted a protester as saying.
Previously, they had reportedly demanded Abazyan be reinstated over concerns that the search for their relatives would reach a deadlock.
Abazyan had assured them that he would stand by their side until the very end, Arsen Ghukasyan, the uncle of soldier Sargis Ghukasyan, who went missing in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, told RFE/RL.
‘Mr Abazyan must return to his position because he has worked for at least five years on humanitarian negotiations regarding those who are missing and captive. They had reached some logical point, after which we had high hopes concerning the return of our relatives’, an anonymous protester told News.am.
Pashinyan attempts to assuage protesters
Abazyan was fired on Wednesday, less than a day after the authorities raided the house of Russian–Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan and charged him with calling for the usurpation of power.
Karapetyan was detained after he made statements in defence of the Armenian Apostolic Church amidst ongoing tensions between it and the government.
‘If the politicians fail, then we will participate in our own way in all of this’, Karapetyan said in an interview with News.am on Tuesday.
Billionaire Samvel Karapetyan charged with ‘usurping power’ following pro-church statement
The charges were brought regarding his statement that ‘if the politicians fail, then we will participate in our own way in all of this’.
Commenting on Abazyan’s dismissal during a press briefing on Wednesday, Pashinyan said that he was the longest-serving NSS chief during his term and that Abazyan’s tenure was ‘extremely difficult and I think he deserves a little rest’.
Pashinyan dismissed rumours that Abazyan was fired for refusing to carry out his orders, but appeared to confirm that it was connected to Karapetyan’s case, saying ‘overall the work of the NSS director pertains to virtually everything, especially security-related, including hybrid security’.
While at the parliament, Pashinyan tried to assuage the concerns of the relatives of missing persons protesting in front of the building. He assured them that the work of Armenian and Azerbaijani commissions working on the issue ‘cannot be disrupted’, while the agreements between the relatives and the government ‘remain unchanged in any way’.
Speaking about the agreements, he said he met relatives of missing persons on 6 June, emphasising that no other official was present.
During the meeting, several issues were raised, and at Pashinyan’s request, they selected the five ‘most acute’ issues and submitted them to him. Pashinyan said that they would hold a follow-up meeting after two months, promising to ‘personally’ deal with those issues.
Armenia and Azerbaijan’s commissions dedicated to finding missing people have held joint two meetings since February 2025, with the last one taking place in early June.
Following the meeting in June, Armenia’s NSS said they had discussed ‘possibilities of exchanging information, as well as organising and coordinating search operations’ for those who had gone missing as a result of the conflict.
According to the International Commission on Missing Persons, as of July 2023, Armenia reported that 777 Armenians are still considered missing from the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and subsequent escalations, while 195 persons, including 20 civilians, are still considered missing from the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
There are also 42 missing persons from Nagorno-Karabakh following Azerbaijan’s final assault on the region.
Armenia–Azerbaijan missing persons commissions hold meeting
No details were revealed by either side regarding the nature of the meeting.
