Saturday, December 19, 2020
Armenia Mourns Karabakh War Dead
December 19, 2020
ARMENIA -- Relatives of soldiers killed during the war in Nagorno-Karabakh stand
near graves at the Yerablur Military Cemetery in Yerevan, November 12, 2020
Armenia began on Saturday an official three-day mourning period for thousands of
Armenian soldiers and several dozen civilians killed during the recent war in
Nagorno-Karabakh stopped by a Russian-brokered ceasefire.
All flags on public buildings across the country were lowered to half-mast and
memorial services will be held in all Armenian churches on Sunday to pay tribute
to victims of the six-week war during which the Armenian side suffered massive
territorial losses in and around Karabakh.
Thousands of people led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian marched to the
Yerablur military cemetery in Yerevan where many of the Armenian soldiers killed
during the hostilities were buried.
In a televised address to the nation aired earlier in the day, Pashinian urged
Armenians to join the procession and demonstrate that “we are going to live on”
despite the “severe consequences” of the war.
Thousands of other Armenians walked to Yerablur late on Friday. The march was
organized by a coalition of opposition parties that blame Pashinian for
Azerbaijan’s victory and demand his resignation.
The precise number of Armenian and Karabakh Armenian soldiers killed in action
remains unknown. The Armenian Ministry of Health confirmed earlier this month
over 2,800 combat deaths.
Hundreds of other Armenian soldiers remain unaccounted for more than one month
after Russian President Vladimir Putin brokered the Armenian-Azerbaijani
ceasefire agreement. Armenian and Karabakh rescue have been looking for them or
their remains in various areas seized by the Azerbaijani army. Russian
peacekeepers and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross
are also involved in the effort.
A Karabakh official said on Friday that the bodies of 969 Armenians have been
recovered since November 13. According to the Ministry of Health, only about 300
of them have so far been identified through DNA tests conducted in Yerevan.
Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian emerges from the main govenment
building in Yerevan to lead a procession to the Yerablur Military Pantheon,
December 19, 2020.
In his televised remarks, Pashinian reiterated that he accepts, in his capacity
as prime minister, “full responsibility” for the Armenian side’s defeat and
resulting heavy casualties. At the same time, he sought to deflect blame at
Armenia’s former leaders.
“We need a more in-depth analysis of the reality because what happened could not
have been the consequence of mistakes committed by one or several persons or
over several years,” he said. “We need to … admit that we made mistakes for many
years and our mistakes were of systemic, conceptual and substantive character.”
All three former presidents who had ruled Armenia since independence have
strongly condemned Pashinian’s handling of the war. One of them, Robert
Kocharian, has said that Pashinian’s government made the hostilities inevitable
with reckless diplomacy and miscalculations of Armenia’s military potential and
needs.
The Armenian opposition also blames Pashinian for the outcome of the war.
Virtually all opposition groups want him to resign and hand over power to an
interim government that would hold snap parliamentary elections within a year.
The opposition demands have been backed by President Armen Sarkissian, the
Armenian Apostolic Church and many prominent public figures.
The prime minister again made clear on Saturday that he has no intention to step
down and will not bow to the pressure from “elite circles.”
There were chaotic scenes at Yerablur when the crowd led by Pashinian, his close
political associates and security detail reached the military pantheon in the
afternoon. It was confronted by several hundred angry protesters chanting “Nikol
traitor!” and trying to stop Pashinian from laying flowers at soldiers’ graves.
“Nikol prime minister!” shouted back some Pashinian loyalists.
Riot police pushed back the protesters. They also intervened to stop scuffles
that broke out between some protesters and Pashinian backers.
Opposition leaders claimed ahead of the ceremony that the embattled premier will
turn it into a pro-government rally as part of his efforts to hold on to power
in the aftermath of the war. Pashinian denied any political motives behind the
“mourning march” to Yerablur.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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