Investigation launched into why Armenia’s Public TV aired pop concert on war anniversary

The council overseeing Armenia’s Public TV, the Public Broadcaster Council, has said it will examine why an upbeat pop concert was aired on the sixth anniversary of the start of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and that it will take measures against those responsible.

In a statement on Wednesday, the council said the broadcast had caused ‘justified dissatisfaction, criticism, and outrage’ among the public.

‘The Public Broadcaster’s Council will examine the circumstances of what happened and, within its powers, apply appropriate measures against those responsible, in order to rule out, going forward, a lack of responsibility towards topics that are highly sensitive for the public’, read the statement.

The council did not specify what measures it could take.

The Public Broadcaster Council is a managing and overseeing body of the Armenian Public TV, Radio, and Spiritual-Cultural Public Television Company. The Council consists of seven members and regularly publishes information about its activities, decisions, and programmes.

On 27 September, Public TV aired a roughly two-hour concert by pop singer Tata Simonyan, an official national day of remembrance in Azerbaijan to honour those who died in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. The channel did not broadcast any war-related programmes or scenes of relatives visiting the Yerablur military pantheon to pay their respects to war casualties. This caused widespread anger online.

Singer Tata Simonyan condemned the broadcast on the day, calling it a ‘gross error with no justification’ and saying it was aired without his consent. Public TV then repeated the concert after midnight.

On 28 September, Public TV apologised, calling the broadcast a ‘mistake’ for which it accepted ‘full responsibility’ and saying it would not seek to justify the decision on programming, technical, or operational grounds. The statement did not say whose mistake it was or who would be held accountable.