“NORAT TER-GRIGORYANTS HAS GONE TO RUSSIA, SLEPT AND SEEN DREAMS.” LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GAGIK MELKONYAN
February 10 2015
“When the ceasefire agreement was signed, Norat Ter-Grigoryants was
present there. Why he was not offended then, that question was not
raised then. Or, 20 years elapsed and now it occurred to his mind
that mistakes have been made then. And has he forgotten the conditions
under which we signed the ceasefire, under what condition our country
was,” so responded former Deputy Defense Minister, Lieutenant-General
Gagik Melikyan in the conversation with Aravot.am, in response to
the statement made by Lieutenant-General Norat Ter-Grigoryants that
the disgraceful ceasefire agreement signed in Bishkek is a treachery,
tomfoolery and stupidity.
Note that recently, during the Russian RT TV transmission, Norat
Ter-Grigoryants has told why he had left the country offended. As
reported by 1in.am, the General has mentioned that serious
disagreements have arisen between him and the military-political
leaders of Armenia because of the cease-fire agreement. According
to him, it was not worthy for the winning state to sign such a
disgraceful ceasefire, which was not driven from the interests of the
Armenian people and the state. “This disgraceful agreement was signed
by people who had no clue about the political and military affairs,
they did not know what is meant by a strategy. The Bishkek cease-fire
agreement was an arrangement written on the sand, a thing that does
not represent anything, it was not only a disgraceful agreement, but
also tomfoolery and stupidity. There is no commitment or guarantee,
because the war could restart the very next day. The agreement did
not provide any distinct borderline and Azerbaijan was not compelled
to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.”
We clarified from Gagik Melkonyan whether we did not have an
alternative then, and whether we should have signed the agreement,
the General replied, “No, there was no alternative, because at that
time we could not compel anything to anybody. The third state was
reconciling our two states and it was not accepting any condition. As
for Norat, he was Lieutenant-General and Chief of Staff, whom they were
listening to. During those times, if he was bringing his fist down on
the table saying, “You know what?”, and they will listen to him. Why
was he offended? He could have raised the issue and have said what he
wanted to the government authorities. The Army at that time was the
most powerful and dictating structure. Let him strike his hand on the
table saying, it should be so. He was the head of the General Staff,
and could compel Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Why didn’t he do it?
Hence, I do not accept his reasoning that there was a treachery. Some
minor people begin giving assessments from the side. They have not
been in the battle field, nor in the state of war; they were seated
under the walls, and now, they are criticizing the then government. In
those winning years, they are saying that it was dark, there was no
light and it was cold. These were the years of our victory rather
than the years of darkness. Someone, let’s say, was eating meal in
the light of the lamp, but we are the ones who won.”
As for the accusations that Levon Ter-Petrosyan was not aware of the
situation and did not know what was going on in the front, Gagik
Melkonyan said, “I do not want to find fault with, the war passed
away. I do not want to find fault with any commander of the troops,
but I must say that Mr. Norat Ter-Grigoryants was not either aware
of what is going on in the front. We were occupying territories, two
days later only, they were getting to know that these territories are
occupied. Let him not forget that he was the kind of General. At that
time, no one was aware of many questions of how and what. How could
the president of a country be unaware of what is going on? Or, now,
Norat has gone to Russia, slept and seen dreams. Does he recall now of
what had happened 20 years ago? I can sit in front of him, talk to him
vis-a-vis and tell hundred things to him. But it is not good to find
fault with anyone. Once, Commandos was also working in the same way,
and I said a few things about Commandos. It is not good, you have
passed a war, and we have won. Why do you want to stir all over again?
Each of you made a mistake, each of you did something, but most
importantly, we have won a united victory together with the president,
minister, General Staff and the last soldier. We should be proud. And
you know what is bad that our nation, when defeated, always knew
exactly what to do after the defeat. This time that we have won,
we do not know what to do after the victory. This is the trouble.”
According to Gagik Melkonyan, Norat Ter-Grigoryants left Armenia for
another reason. “Let him say the main reason. It was not the reason.”
To our question of whether it is true that the problem was only
with his disagreements to the decisions of Generals Andreasyan and
Dalibaltayan, therefore he has left the country offended when his
words were not considered, Melkonyan replied, “Andreasyan was a very
powerful man. Indeed, we can say that he had clue about everything
– the war, and knew what is what. They did not find common language
with each other to continue their work. And this does not mean that he
had disagreements with the government. Lieutenant-Generals Andreasyan
and Norat Ter-Grigoryants did not understand each other, therefore,
he left. The government authorities did not commit treachery. Our
conditions the then dictated so and we could not bring forward any
other condition. The war was on.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
Read more at:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
