ROBBING THE OTHERS OF THEIR GLORY
GEVORG HAROUTYUNYAN

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
01 Nov 08
Armenia

When your patience is exhausted

Varouzhan Karapetyan was the person in charge of military affairs in
the European office of ASALA. In 1983, he was arrested in France after
the terrorist act organized in the French airport `Aurles’ and was
sentenced to life imprisonment. Eighteen years after serving his
sentence in France, V. Karapetyan was released. On April 24, 2001 he
came to Armenia, settled in his homeland, and now lives in Dilijan, in
a house he has built on his own.

`My patience is exhausted. Those who rob others of their glory have
increased in number, and they abuse the human sacrifice. It’s now time
to speak and tell the truth,’ VAROUZHAN KARAPETYAN said in an exclusive
interview to `Hayots Ashkharh’.

`Mr. Karapetyan, you have never had an interview with the Armenian
journalists although you have been living in Armenia for more than 7
years now. What has made you so indignant that you decided to express
your opinion in the press?’

`When the ox ploughs the field, the wooden plough pulls it from behind
and the animal sweats. The sweat attracts the lice which never miss the
chance to say at the end that they have ploughed the field on their
own. This is the philosophy of our life.

The best guys sacrificed their lives, while the time-servers are now
using their merit. We initiated the operation of `Aurles’ airport
ourselves, as a sign of protest against Levon Ekmedjyan’s being hanged
in Istanbul in 1982. We had planned to blow up the plane belonging to
the `Turkish Airlines’ company, which was transporting high-ranking
officials, Generals and diplomats of the Turkish intelligence service.
Our target was definitely clear. During the operation, 10 Turks were
killed and other 60 were injured.

I was arrested, served my sentence and then was released, and, as a
representative of the third generation of an Armenian emigrant, I
returned to my homeland. In the course of the past 7 years, I never
displayed any kind of political orientation.

When, in the 1970’s, we founded the Armenian Secret Army for the
Liberation of Armenia, our struggle was not class-oriented, and it
didn’t bear a political character; our principal goal was to liberate
the occupied lands of Armenia. In 1991, Armenia regained its
independence. Therefore, the issue of the Armenian Cause is to be
resolved by the Armenian statehood, and it should never be adjusted to
the mentality of a certain group or party. The state mentality is the
pledge of the existence of our statehood. In the 1990’s, when the
existence of our motherland was at stake, the consolidation of the
power of Armenians in Artsakh had become an imperative.

When the war or battle is over, the freedom fighter who was ready to
become a martyr should realize that his mission is over, and he should
be able to take a halt and cease the struggle. A freedom fighter must
be able to keep his name high; he must never stagnate, never appear on
the political arena and spot his reputation. And this is exactly what
many friends of mine and many freedom fighters did.

However, it turns out that when the lion is missing, the foxes begin
dancing in the forest. And one of such foxes is the criminal who
introduces himself as Sargis Hatspanyan.’

`Who is, after all, Sargis Hatspanyan who currently acts as a
`pro-Levon activist”? What does he have to do with the Armenian Secret
Army for the Liberation of Armenia?’

`When we were arrested, Sargis Hatspanyan was one of the time-servers
who took advantage of our status. He came to the independent state of
Armenia, introduced himself as a fighter and even the leader of the
Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia and speculated the
most sacred patriotic sentiments of our people.

Hatspanyan was a mysterious nature. His real surname was Ekmedjyan.
When living in France, he speculated the fact of bearing the same
surname as martyr hero Levon Ekmekdjyan but as a matter of fact, he had
no relationship with either Levon or our army. In this way, he managed
to organize several donations in the Diaspora. He extorted and realized
the sums that were collected with the purpose of providing aid to the
arrested freedom fighters as well as assisting in the war of Artsakh.

He didn’t have a house in France; in that sense, he was a vagabond. But
he managed to amass a fortune due to his charity organization. Now,
Sargis Ekmedjyan has translated his surname from Turkish and become
Hatspanyan; he now has a luxurious shop in the Northern Avenue and a
house in Toumanyan Street.

The so-called Hatspanyan now introduces himself as a freedom fighter of
the detachment which was led by hero of the Artsakh war Leonid
Azgaldyan and a former member of ASALA, although he had never had
anything in common with the secret army; neither had he been in the
battlefields of Artsakh, at least for an hour.

I have met him only once. During our conversation, he refused to
confess that he had ever introduced himself as a member of ASALA, but
he insisted that he had been put to prison in France in 1983, in the
frameworks of the `Aurles’ case. I thought I might not have recognized
him or be unaware of his involvement. However, I learnt from Rene
Levonyan, honored priest of the Armenian Evangelistic Church, that the
so-called Hatspanyan was not only an obscene liar but also a robber of
the glory gained at the price of the sufferings of others. That
wretched creature who poses danger to society reminds me of one story.

Two prisoners were close friends. When the time of their release drew
near, one of them asked the other what he was going to do after being
released from prison. And he reminded his prison mate that he had been
put to prison for killing one of the two villains of their village and
wouldn’t be able to live in peace unless he squared accounts with the
other. The other said that he was going to build a private house on the
top of the mountain and live there in peace with his family. Years
later, the former visits his friend, sees that he has translated his
desires into reality and feels happy for him. Then he confesses that he
hasn’t put his plans into practice because the villains in the village
had increased in number while he was serving his sentence in prison.

The same I can say about myself. When I was released from prison, I saw
that the villains had increased in number. It is very hard to put up
with the idea that the villains enjoy the products of your sacrifice.
But what to do when there are a lot of such villains. You can’t kill
them all. So, it is necessary to reveal their essence. The people have
a wise proverb which says what is done by night appears by day, and the
truth has to be disclosed.

I just dread when the time-servers and immoral creatures start
expressing concerns over the Artsakh issue. For such kind of people,
Armenia is the beautiful lady they want to rape. This is why I decided
to interrupt my silence.