LET YOUR HOPE COME TRUE

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
01 July 05

For six years now June 29 is the Day of the Missing Azatamartiks.
Every year on this day the friends and relatives of the missing gather
at the Memorial to the missing soldiers to pay homage to their memory
and utter words of consolation, waiting for their sons to come back
one day. On June 29, 2005 again a lot of people gathered at the
memorial. NKR President Arkady Ghukassian accompanied by the top
officials of the country visited the memorial at 11 oclock. Wreaths on
behalf of the NKR government, the Ministry of Defence, the Police,
different enterprises and NGOs were laid to the memorial. In his
address the head of the department for military and patriotic training
and public relations of the NKR Ministry of Defence, Colonel Robert
Baghrian said the issue of the missing emerged on the days of the
temporary setback in June 1992 when the squad Arabo crashed near the
village of Hasanghaya, Martakert region. Their fate, as well as the
fate of hundreds of our countrymen has been unknown for 13 years
now. For those people who have lost a close person every minute of
waiting is unbearable, whereas they have been waiting for many years
now. In his address the minister of defence Seyran Ohanian said on the
way to the liberation of Artsakh and independence we had to make a lot
of sacrifices. The independence cost human lives. A lot of men were
martyred for the peoples dream to come true. Many of those who set out
on this way were destined to acquire the title of missing. It is
painful and hard that the notion of POW became part of the everyday
life of our people. According to the defence minister, the
establishment of the Union of the Missing Azatamartiks was dictated by
the time. The Union is aimed to resume and coordinate the search for
the missing soldiers and citizens, find out their exact number, create
their personal files, mediate and participate in the negotiations and
return of the POWs and hostages. In December 2000 the NKR Commission
on Hostages and the Missing was set up by the decree of the NKR
president to fill the gap in coordination of the search for the
missing. The International Committee of the Red Cross has also
assisted to the work as a mediator.

LAURA GRIGORIAN.
01-07-2005