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At a meeting with journalists on August 19, referring to the question why the authorities did not respond to the numerous accusations about the April War, including with regard to the quality of weapons and ammunition, diesel fuel and the work of the officers, the third president Serzh Sargsyan said that there was no need for it. Such “misinformation or false information” was circulating in narrow circles.
“We regularly conducted sociological surveys, the results of those studies were satisfactory for us. More than 80 percent of our society considered it a victory,” Sargsyan said.
The Fact Investigation Platform decided to study the polls ordered by the government in that period to understand what was the public opinion about the the April War and actions of the government in those days.
For years, the government turned to the IPSC Institute for Political and Sociological Consulting (now Breavis) to learn about public opinion, which regularly conducted surveys funded by the state budget.
IPSC surveys conducted in different months of 2016 contain several questions related to the April War. However, there are neither questions nor answers about considering the Four-Day War a victory in any of them. Meanwhile, other questions indirectly contradict Serzh Sargsyan’s statement.
Thus, according to a poll conducted in June 2016, about 56% of the population agreed that after the Four-Day War, the people had a deeper sense of frustration about the future of the country. According to an October poll, 65% of the population said that the number of people around them protesting against the government had increased after the war.
In addition, in an October 2016 poll, only 9․4% of respondents mentioned the April victory as a military achievement of the government. In June, respondents did not cite the April victory as a government achievement.
According to a poll conducted in September 2017, 3․2% of respondents considered the April War to be the most ineffective step of the government in the last year, and the tense military situation was considered the main omission of the government by 12% of the respondents.
Thus, Serzh Sargsyan’s assertion that according to their polls, 80% of the public thought that Armenia had won the war is false, and does not correspond to the findings of the polls conducted during that period.
Ani Avetisyan
