No solution yet on special status for families of Karabakh fuel depot blast victims, says Torosyan

Discussions on granting special status to the families of those killed in the fuel depot explosion in Karabakh are continuing, but no solution has yet been found.

Minister of Labour and Welfare Arsen Torosyan said this in response to a question from Armenia faction MP Artur Khachatryan during discussions on the draft 2027 state budget at a joint meeting of the National Assembly’s standing committees on Labour and Welfare and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs.

The MP asked how the Government intended to resolve the issue of the victims’ relatives’ status, stressing that it had been raised for years.

Torosyan said the issue had also been discussed at a meeting with compatriots forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh. The minister distinguished between the circumstances of families of those killed and families of those missing.

“Our main concern involves people who are currently missing and whose family members are not receiving survivor benefits,” he said.

According to the minister, family members of those killed in the explosion receive survivor benefits. He also referred to the one-off compensation payments provided, noting that different mechanisms had been applied to military personnel and civilians.

Addressing the question of establishing special status for everyone, Torosyan stressed the need to assess the consequences of legislative changes.

“I think we need to be careful in this regard. Discussions are, of course, continuing, and the committee is also involved. If we find a solution that does not create other problems, we have no objection. To be honest, we have not found a solution so far, because we would need to amend laws, bring provisions into line and so on,” the minister said.

In response, Khachatryan cited a Court of Appeal ruling which, he said, linked the victims’ deaths to the consequences of the war. He proposed a separate meeting involving the ministry and the victims’ legal successors to find a solution.

“Let us — ourselves, yourselves and the legal successors, the victims’ legal successors — meet, even in a small group, and try to resolve this issue,” the MP proposed.

Torosyan expressed his readiness to attend a meeting in the proposed format.