Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Karabakh war vet says Shushi liberation anniversary overshadowed

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Karabakh war vet says Shushi liberation anniversary overshadowed

    Karabakh war vet says Shushi liberation anniversary overshadowed by
    lack of `minimal dignity'

    News | 06.05.11 | 13:57

    Photolure


    Jirair Sefilian

    By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
    ArmeniaNow reporter


    A military commander who played a major role during the battle of
    Shushi 19 years ago says the anniversary of the strategic Karabakh
    town's liberation by Armenians to be marked this weekend has long
    ceased to be a holiday for him.


    Lebanese-born Jirair Sefilian led a special military company during
    the 1992-1994 hostilities between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in
    Karabakh and was directly involved in the May 8, 1992 storm of Shushi
    that drove Azeri armed units out of the fortress town that kept the
    low-lying capital of Karabakh, Stepanakert, under constant shelling.

    The decorated veteran of the Karabakh war who now is a member of a
    hard-line opposition faction, Sardarapat movement, explained: `After
    the ceasefire, we, Armenians, have failed to create a country where
    our people's minimal dignity would be maintained and not trampled
    upon.'

    At a press conference on Friday, the radical oppositionist cited the
    example of Sasun Mikayelyan, a Karabakh war veteran and former
    lawmaker now serving an eight-year prison sentence on a conviction
    stemming from his purported role in the 2008 post-election unrest.

    Speaking about the latest developments in domestic politics, in
    particular the emerging government-opposition dialogue, Sefilian
    commented that due to some pressures the opposition has managed to get
    Serzh Sargsyan to agree to `some cosmetic changes'. According to him,
    the president is freeing `hostages' (opposition members imprisoned in
    2008 post-election unrest-related cases) because `something has been
    promised to him.'

    `Three years ago the president was convinced that it stirring a
    popular wave was impossible, but the opposite happened. So the chief
    dictator, thinking about his reproduction, has attempted to carry out
    this process without upheavals. He's managed to come to terms with the
    leadership of the Armenian National Congress (ANC). The goal of Serzh
    [Sargsyan] is as follows: understanding people's sentiments and
    attitude towards himself and agreeing to a dialogue, he first of all
    damages the opposition. We will witness the ANC losing its electorate.
    The game will finish in the dictator's favor,' Sefilian said, urging
    all `reasonable people' in the opposition not to give in to the
    government game.

    According to Sefilian, the course of the ANC's actions shows that they
    are preparing for parliamentary elections.

    In an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service on Thursday ANC leader
    Levon Ter-Petrosyan said `an open dialogue' with the authorities is
    underway.

    `We openly present our demands, our problems, our programs to the
    authorities and the public, and the authorities are openly responding
    to them. Of course, [they are responding] not as concretely and
    directly as we are saying, but more vaguely, but steps are being taken
    and that cannot be ignored,' the opposition leader stressed.

    During this week Ter-Petrosyan visited Mikayelyan and another jailed
    key opposition activist Nikol Pashinyan. The ANC leader expects all of
    his jailed loyalists to be released by the end of this month,
    considering it as the only remaining demand to be met before his
    alliance could engage in a dialogue with the Sargsyan administration.




    From: A. Papazian
Working...
X