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FREEDOM FIGHTERS V YERKRAPAH?: NEW LAW ON KARABAKH WAR VET STATUS RAISES QUESTIONS
http://www.armenianow.com/news/47249/armenia_yerkrapah_veterans_freedom_fighters_law_so cial_guarantees_protests
NEWS | 27.06.13 | 10:50
Photo: www.parliament.am
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The law on granting Karabakh war veterans with no status the status
of Yerkrapah volunteers that was unanimously adopted in the first
reading by the National Assembly last week is considered by some
veterans to be flawed as it fails to address any of the issues that
they currently face. Besides, they say, it might pursue a hidden goal
of establishing control over them by stipulating their affiliation
with an organization.
Representatives of the majority Republican Party of Armenia, MP
Samvel Farmanyan and two generals, Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers (YUV)
head Manvel Grigoryan and Sedrak Saroyan, had authored a legislative
package, defining by law the notion of Yerkrapah (roughly translated
into English as Land Defender) as a person who participated voluntarily
in the defense of the country.
According to Farmanyan, with the adoption of the law for the first
time the Armenian state recognizes volunteerism as a phenomenon,
defines the concept and grants a special status to volunteers who
took part in the war.
While some members of parliament expressed the opinion that the bill
needed elaboration and reform, all 99 lawmakers present in the chamber
during the voting voted in favor of it, something that Parliament
Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan said showed respect for homeland-defenders'
services.
Glorious Fighters NGO head Grisha Sargsyan, however, thinks that the
law concerns the YUV NGO that was established still in 1993.
Meanwhile, he said, this structure embraces only 30 percent of all
freedom fighters who actually took part in the hostilities.
"The very first sentence in this law reads: 'Those who voluntarily
participated in homeland defense and became members'... Members of
what? You usually become a member of a public organization, and it
is from here that the law deviates and means membership in the YUV.
Yerkrapah is specifically attributed to the YUV, besides a
freedom-fighter needs to have documentation certified somewhere,
and they did it so that everything be under their control and be
guided by them," Sargsyan told ArmeniaNow. He added that they would be
consistent in insisting on the word 'Yerkrapah' to be replaced with
'Freedom Fighter' and if it is not done, they will insist on the
passage of a new law that will specifically concern freedom fighters.
Meanwhile, the YUV gives assurances that the law does not at all
concern membership in the organization as it is clearly defined that
participants in military operations in the period from 1989 to 1994
receive the status. According to preliminary estimates, there are
about 2,145 people who factually participated in the Karabakh war,
but do not have any status today as after the establishment of the
regular army on January 28, 1992 they were not officially recruited.
"This concerns people who still in 1990, before the creation of the
national army, took up their grandfathers' arms and went to protect
the border villages, did not wait for the command, for a military
call-up. We had many such guys who fought till the signing of the
truce, but were not registered anywhere. They must be given a status,
too, and their great moral step must be appreciated," YUV Board member
and Information Department Officer Hakob Hakobyan told ArmeniaNow. He
added that even the law would not solve all problems, but at least,
he said, it would set the process going.
Meanwhile, Karabakh war veterans who have recently staged protests
demanding an essential rise in their state pensions and other social
guarantees from the government continue to believe that the law does
not address their current problems.
According to reserve colonel Volodya Avetisyan, who has led the
protests since May, some of the law provisions even make things worse.
"So, we have urged the president to refuse to sign the law," Avetisyan
told ArmeniaNow. "The law contains lots of restrictions that are not
in our favor, it does not say anything on social matters. We will
continue our protest."
http://www.armenianow.com/news/47249/armenia_yerkrapah_veterans_freedom_fighters_law_so cial_guarantees_protests
NEWS | 27.06.13 | 10:50
Photo: www.parliament.am
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
The law on granting Karabakh war veterans with no status the status
of Yerkrapah volunteers that was unanimously adopted in the first
reading by the National Assembly last week is considered by some
veterans to be flawed as it fails to address any of the issues that
they currently face. Besides, they say, it might pursue a hidden goal
of establishing control over them by stipulating their affiliation
with an organization.
Representatives of the majority Republican Party of Armenia, MP
Samvel Farmanyan and two generals, Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers (YUV)
head Manvel Grigoryan and Sedrak Saroyan, had authored a legislative
package, defining by law the notion of Yerkrapah (roughly translated
into English as Land Defender) as a person who participated voluntarily
in the defense of the country.
According to Farmanyan, with the adoption of the law for the first
time the Armenian state recognizes volunteerism as a phenomenon,
defines the concept and grants a special status to volunteers who
took part in the war.
While some members of parliament expressed the opinion that the bill
needed elaboration and reform, all 99 lawmakers present in the chamber
during the voting voted in favor of it, something that Parliament
Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan said showed respect for homeland-defenders'
services.
Glorious Fighters NGO head Grisha Sargsyan, however, thinks that the
law concerns the YUV NGO that was established still in 1993.
Meanwhile, he said, this structure embraces only 30 percent of all
freedom fighters who actually took part in the hostilities.
"The very first sentence in this law reads: 'Those who voluntarily
participated in homeland defense and became members'... Members of
what? You usually become a member of a public organization, and it
is from here that the law deviates and means membership in the YUV.
Yerkrapah is specifically attributed to the YUV, besides a
freedom-fighter needs to have documentation certified somewhere,
and they did it so that everything be under their control and be
guided by them," Sargsyan told ArmeniaNow. He added that they would be
consistent in insisting on the word 'Yerkrapah' to be replaced with
'Freedom Fighter' and if it is not done, they will insist on the
passage of a new law that will specifically concern freedom fighters.
Meanwhile, the YUV gives assurances that the law does not at all
concern membership in the organization as it is clearly defined that
participants in military operations in the period from 1989 to 1994
receive the status. According to preliminary estimates, there are
about 2,145 people who factually participated in the Karabakh war,
but do not have any status today as after the establishment of the
regular army on January 28, 1992 they were not officially recruited.
"This concerns people who still in 1990, before the creation of the
national army, took up their grandfathers' arms and went to protect
the border villages, did not wait for the command, for a military
call-up. We had many such guys who fought till the signing of the
truce, but were not registered anywhere. They must be given a status,
too, and their great moral step must be appreciated," YUV Board member
and Information Department Officer Hakob Hakobyan told ArmeniaNow. He
added that even the law would not solve all problems, but at least,
he said, it would set the process going.
Meanwhile, Karabakh war veterans who have recently staged protests
demanding an essential rise in their state pensions and other social
guarantees from the government continue to believe that the law does
not address their current problems.
According to reserve colonel Volodya Avetisyan, who has led the
protests since May, some of the law provisions even make things worse.
"So, we have urged the president to refuse to sign the law," Avetisyan
told ArmeniaNow. "The law contains lots of restrictions that are not
in our favor, it does not say anything on social matters. We will
continue our protest."