At the meeting of the Union of Yerkrapah Volunteers (UYV) to hear reports and to elect new members, to which relatives of the departed were also invited, was convened yesterday. Although the latter were looking forward to meeting with Manvel Grigoryan and telling him a thing or two, the general had sent deputy chairman of the UYV Khachik Mkrtchyan in his stead.
Discussing issues on the union’s agenda and women’s barraging complaints took place at the same time. Everything started from the moment, when the district office of the UYV praised the governor of Gyumri, while making their report, who had taken part in building the tombs of the departed. Hearing the word “tomb,” many people got annoyed that the state had just given a small amount of money at the time and afterwards had not been concerned about that, not taking into account that that money could be used only for burying ceremony and not for building a tomb. They were also annoyed with the fact that the establishment had reduced the pension given to the families of the departed, showing by this its attitude toward them.
“This establishment has no shame – they stand in front of us and say that they are already sick of these families of the departed. The general had better raise this issue,” the relatives of the departed complained.
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At first, the head of the departed volunteers’ mothers’ council made a speech and said, “Certainly, I could have stood here and say a few kind words, but the sorrow of my heart doesn’t allow me to do so.” The woman demanded the council to be not a formal one, but to really operate, in order that the story of each of the departed is presented in detail. The relatives of the departed also complained that doctors received and treated them unwillingly.
The deputy chairman surprised at this kind of critique said that General Manvel Grigoryan every time after a meeting lighted a candle and listened to the complaints of the relatives of the departed, communicated with them, in order to solve their issues. Hearing this, one of the people sitting in the hall shouted out, “It is only in Yerevan, we expected General Manvel to be here today. Why hasn’t he come? We haven’t seen general at all.” Certainly, the scandal that started wasn’t over after that – the relatives of the departed got angrier, when the award granting ceremony started. One of the women, not being able to restrain her anger, stood up and scolded, “You grant yourselves awards, I have never seen you giving a piece of paper to posthumously thank my husband who died in Lachin. I would take it for my grandchildren to see and be proud of their grandpa. Shame on you!” It came to women’s surrounding the UYV deputy chairman after the meeting, saying that they were not interested at all in the election and the candidates for MPs, all the same, no one was going to do anything for them.
One of the women even engaged in a heated debate with the local managers of the UYV, who said that the UYV was not for making it hail or rain, but was to solve thousands of different problems and that the war was not over yet and that the ultimate goal of the UYV was to defend the borders of the motherland.
The UYV members also thought that it was an advantage that the complaints of the relatives of the departed reached the building of the UYV and didn’t remain in the street. Regardless of the explanations of the UYV members, one of the mothers who had lost her son argued vigorously with the members of the UYV, swore and got sworn at.
In response to a question of www.aravot.am why General Manvel Grigoryan wanted to become an MP, the UYV deputy chairman, although he had refused to answer political questions, said hastily, “In order to solve all these issues.”
Nune AREVSHATYAN
