One of the closest associates of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Sasun Mikaelyan demonstrated all his cynicism and unacceptable attitude to veterans of the Great Patriotic War, motivating Pashinyan’s My Step Alliance not to increase veteran payments in honor of the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory. According to him, the defenders of the fatherland are so old that it would be more profitable for the state to postpone the payment date in order to wait for their death.
“It seems to me that this is not a big deal. If we wait a little more, then, in May, there will be no one left. In this case, it will be easier for us to make these payments, ”he said during the parliamentary meeting.
After this proposal, The My Step Alliance did not even include on the agenda the bill of Prosperous Armenia MP Vahe Enfiajyan on doubling the honorary payments to veterans of the Great Patriotic War to 200, 000 drams ($ 417) per month. There are only about 276 veterans left, thus Enfiajyan proposed to increase their pensions by only $ 57.5 thousand per month in total.
The initiative was put forward last Thursday at a meeting of the Permanent Parliamentary Commission on Health and Social Affairs but was sharply rejected by representatives of Pashinyan’s team. Already then Vestnik Kavkaza noted the disappointing attitude of the new, ‘revolutionary’ authorities of Armenia towards the veterans of the Great Patriotic War that can only cause regret.
Considering the refusal of The My Step Alliance to discuss the bill and Mikayelyan’s words as of one of the modern leaders of Armenia (Pashinyan appointed him the head of the Armenian militant organization - the so-called Yerkrapah Volunteer Union - instead of a member of the Karabakh clan Manvel Grigoryan), that is saying something.
Firstly, this indicates that the “velvet revolution”, despite all the slogans, sunk into oblivion and could not solve a single economic problem in Armenia, which is why today, amid the pandemic, the state is forced to save every dram and is not able of raising pensions for 276 veterans. Moreover, their natural reduction benefits the budget, despite the fact that this benefit is miserable even in a country with such a modest budget. For comparison, only Nikol Pashinyan’s apparatus spends $ 73,500 per month.
And secondly, which is more important, the development shows, there is nothing sacred for the new authorities. They only care about one thing - to remain in power, and if any group of the population does not pose a political threat to them Pashinyan’s team ready to ignore these people. 62-year old Mikaelyan, the representative of veterans’ children generation, offers to betray the feat of the closest to him older people.
Yes, there are few veterans left, thus, each of them is more valuable as a direct carrier of historical memory of the Great Patriotic War and the Great Victory, as a living defender of the Motherland, who contributed to its salvation from the ruthless Nazi threat. To save on veterans, and even offer to delay payments and wait for their death, means to work for the oblivion of their heroism, abandon the historical memory of their own people.
The true history of the Armenian people, who won together with other Soviet peoples in the Great Patriotic War, once again turned out to be unwanted by the Armenian state.
