Mothers Of Dozens Of Armenian Soldiers Killed In Karabakh Back Peace
Campaign By PM's Wife


Karine Simonian

The Armenian Prime Minister's wife Anna Hakobian (R) meets with
mothers of soldiers killed in Nagorno-Karabakh, Yerevan, 15Sept2018


Mothers of about four dozen servicemen who were killed in action
during the years of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in particular,
during the April 2016 clashes, declared on Saturday about their
joining the peace appeal of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's wife Anna
Hakobian addressed to all warring sides in the world.

During a reception by Hakobian at the prime minister's office in
Yerevan, the mothers of killed Armenian soldiers urged women in
Azerbaijan to join them in stopping the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

"Let all mothers of the world rise up. We especially address our
appeal to mothers in Azerbaijan. Recently on the internet they also
addressed an appeal to stop the war. We don't want war, we don't want
to lose our sons," said Hamest Nersisian, mother of Captain Armenak
Urfanian who was killed during the four-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh in
April 2016.

"[We want] peace to be finally established at the borders# so that
after sending their sons to the army mothers don't have to go through
excruciating wait for them to return safe and sound. We want no more
mothers like ourselves in the new Armenia," said another woman who
lost her son in the conflict.

Yet another such woman added: "I am fighting for the rights of all
these women, the rights of the families who have lost their sons,
fathers, brothers. I am fighting for them not to lose their children
anymore."

Hakobian said in her speech that she will carry on her "Women for
Peace" campaign with more confidence particularly enjoying the support
of the mothers who lost their sons during the 2016 clashes in
Nagorno-Karabakh. She stressed that in Armenia peace appeals addressed
to Azerbaijanis usually elicit mixed reactions and after launching
this campaign she also came under criticism.

"What makes your message addressed to Azerbaijani mothers also very
important is that it is not accepted unambiguously by our
society. After my speech I also heard accusations that I shouldn't
compare [Armenian and Azerbaijani mothers] and so on. But I want to
ask you whether being a mother has ethnicity, nationality or
religion," said Hakobian.

The Armenian prime minister's wife urged Azerbaijani women to join
this peace campaign. "I hope that your voice and our voice will also
reach Azerbaijani mothers, and they will, too, speak up against war
and for peace. And if this happens, if our ranks grow, one day we will
also get our message across to the men who issue orders to fire and
start a war," said Hakobian.

The Armenian prime minister's wife Anna Hakobian called on the wives
of former and current senior officials and wealthy businessmen to
contribute to the activities of a foundation set up by Hamest
Nersisian and bearing the name of her son, Captain Armenak
Urfanian. "I think there will be women who will give it a thought and
arrive at the conclusion that the valuables they purchased while their
husbands were in office were not always earned so fairly. And they
will think that by donating at least some of them to Hamest
Nersisian's foundation they can find peace of mind," said Hakobian.

To a journalist's remark that while they were campaigning for peace,
Azerbaijani armed forces reportedly fired at an Armenian border
village last night, Hakobian said that they were campaigning for peace
as women and mothers and not on behalf of the state. She stressed that
parallel to their peace appeal Armenia was also holding military
exercises.

"Life will show who will prove victorious. Either we will win and will
make them lay down their arms and sit down at a negotiating table to
try to understand each other and solve this problem, or we will lose
and they will continue to shoot at each other at the borders. I want
to exclude the option of our defeat and want to express confidence
that one day we will prevail," the Armenian prime minister's wife
concluded.



Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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