In the political life of Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh volunteers find themselves on the opposite sides of the barricades
In Yerevan, the eighth Congress of the Union of Volunteers Yerkrapah (UVY) has taken place (Yerkrapah is literally translated from Armenian as "defender of the country” – author). This social organization was founded as a union of the participants of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh by Vazgen Sarkisian, the prime minister who was killed by terrorists in parliament on October 27, 1999.
The meeting began with passages from the speech given at the first congress of the UVY by its founder, after which the participants commemorated their deceased companions with a minute’s silence and passed a statement in which they called the UVY a non-political organization and its representatives “simply the soldiers of the people and the state”.
The statement also contained a call to declare 2010 the first year of tolerance, solidarity and unity. The chairman of the organization, Lieutenant General Manvel Grigoryan, said: "The UVY has always been at the forefront in the matter of the independence of Armenia and Artsakh's liberation". [Artsakh is the Armenian for Nagorno-Karabakh].
"The Armenian side has nothing to surrender" - Grigorian also said, referring to the talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Participants of the congress also discussed social issues, in particular the need to assist the socially disadvantaged families of those volunteers who died in the hostilities.
The most important issue on the agenda of the congress was the question of the election of the chairman of the UVY and the election of board members. The congress re-elected Grigorian to the post of chairman of the UVY and re-elected most of the board members. From the representatives of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) among the members of the UVY, former political prisoners Hovhannes Harutyunyan and Mkrtich Sapeyan.were included in the board.
Many of the ex-combatants and former political prisoners who during the events of March 2008 supported the opposition were not invited to the congress. The former deputy chairman of the UVY, former political prisoner Myasnik Malkhasyan, also did not receive an invitation. Grigoryan commented on this by saying: "An invitation is for guests! They were the members of the UVY, and were obliged to come to participate in the congress’ work. And if someone is offended, then he'd better calm down".
Concern that the events of March 1, 2008 played an important role in the fact that participants of Yerkrapah are now on opposing sides was expressed by the brother of the late Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian, head of the opposition party “Republic” Aram Sarkisian. "Some of these people actually carried out great deeds on the battlefield. Another question is that peacetime separated us. And I ask, what would have been the use if these people had become members of the board of the UVY? I know for sure that I should not be a member of the board of the UVY, because I understand my role in the current processes,” the opposition figure said.
According to some observers, the congress of the UVY, which was postponed several times, was designed to definitively demonstrate the position of the organization. It turned out that the congress marked the existence of two camps within the UVY - the opposition and one ready to go under the control of the authorities. Notable in this regard was the speech of Minister Seyran Ohanian,who was present at the Congress of Armenian Defense and who urged everyone to rally around the president and the president: "We stood at the origins of our statehood and today we must stand by our leader, comrade, supreme commander, President Serzh Sargsyan to solve complex problems.”
The governing body of UVY in the person of Manvel Grigorian expressed agreement with the appeal of the minister, thereby effectively proving wrong its own statement that the UVY is a non-political organization.
The UVY’s drift towards the authorities was also demonstrated by the presence at the congress of many high-ranking officials as guests. Among them were presidential advisor Andranik Manukyan, mayor Gyumri Vardan Ghukasian and the chairman of the Control Chamber of Armenia Ishkhan Zakarian. The observers paid attention to the head of one of the coalition parties, the "Prosperous Armenia", oligarch Gagik Tsarukian, behind whom looms the figure of ex-President Robert Kocharian, a man who is extremely unpopular in Armenian society.
A political observer of the newspaper The Fourth Autocracy, Grigor Voskanyan, believes that the Armenian authorities aspire to turn the UVY into the same meaningless and insignificant organization as the Public Council under the president, which brings together a number of state-controlled political parties and public organizations.
Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for VC
