Epress.am News from Armenia
The Armenian National Congress (HAK), led by HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrossian, paid a visit to Yerevan’s Victory Park and Yerablur military cemetery to pay their respects to the victims of WWII and the Nagorno-Karabakh War. HAK officials placed wreaths and flowers around the eternal flame in Victory Park and at the monument commemorating freedom fighters in Yerablur.
At Yerablur, HHSh (Pan-Armenian National Movement) party leader Aram Manukyan, speaking to journalists, said those heroes who were supposed “to have become textbook examples, suddenly began to get rich and some forgot themselves, who they are. They forgot those thousands of decent men, their spilled blood, as a result of which victories were built.”
“If your hero begins to live only for himself, begins to get rich or seek high positions, it takes away from your victory. But I don’t want to put the emphasis on this today. I want to remember all those boys who bore victory on their shoulders, and the people on whose backs victory was built. Our people were holding up the rear, hoping and believing; their sons ensured victory and the political force ensured its success and diplomatic strength. For this reason, May 9, Shushi, will remain in history as a day of dignity, truly a united day of victory,” he said.
According to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, at least 320,000 residents of Armenia, then a republic of approximately 1 million people, were drafted to the Soviet army during the bloodiest war in the history of humankind. The total number of its Soviet Armenian participants is estimated at more than 500,000. Only just over half of them returned home alive.
There are presently about 3,600 veterans living in Armenia. May 9 is a rare moment of nationwide attention to them and their needs.