WHERE ARE THE 350 LOST SOLDIERS?

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[02:04 pm] 11 April, 2006

“We are sure that your sons are alive and they will return by all
means. We beg you not to lose your last hope,” the high-rank officials
of the Defense Ministry have told the relatives of the missing soldiers
these words for 12 years in Erablur. The same words could be heard
today on the international day of Unknown Soldier and war prisoners.

The chairman of the “Unknown soldiers’ relatives’ council” Rima
Arakelyan spoke for the unknown soldiers’ mothers today, “We become
comforted when our sorrow and grief become universal.” This is a
quotation from Mrs. Arakelyan’s official speech. In fact the relatives
of missing soldiers have no comfort today. “We haven’t lost our
hopes. But it is already 14 years since my son lost, and I haven’t
heard from him all those years. We get information from non official
sources. We mustn’t betray our sons and we must confess; the country
does not take adequate measures to find our sons. We have nobody to
turn to and get a definite answer,” said Mrs. Arakelyan. They agree
that the country faces serious problems today but it mustn’t forget
the people who contributed to its victory.

According to the data of the “Unknown soldiers’ relatives’ council”
there are about 350 missing soldiers in our country the majority of
which got lost after the war while serving in the army. The efforts
of the relatives to find the missing soldiers haven’t had positive
results either. “The mothers of the Azeri lost soldiers also face the
same problem but they forget their grief when speaking of 20 percent
territory and demand it from us. This attitude is incomprehensible
for us,” assumed Rima Arakelyan.

Anyway, the Azeri women said during the meeting of Armenian and Azeri
lost soldiers’ mothers that there is at least one Armenian war prisoner
in Azeri homes in certain regions of the country. The question whether
this datum is warranted or not can’t be answered so far as Azerbaijan
declares that there are no war prisoners in their country. “The efforts
of finding missing soldiers are at a deadlock,” said the vice chairman
of “Community and Right” Suren Hovhannesyan. The missing soldiers’
mothers are sure that the measures of finding their sons will not have
their positive results unless there is a state approach to the matter.