The leader of Artsakh Diocese, Artsakh hero Pargev Archbishop Martirosyan spoke of the days of the origins of Artsakh Movement with Aravot.am. He told that a miraculous atmosphere reigned in those days as if a whole nation was breathing as a single person, it had become a single person. People were ready to contribute to the realization of the pan-national objective. “And what was interesting, was that people were performing the highest level of honesty. For example, when they brought food to the rally places, people were so caring they thought there would be more hungry and thirsty people and the food circulated all over. I was getting excited, inasmuch as it was the Armenian nation I expected it to be – honest, kind and pure. I got an impression as if the Holy Spirit entered inside the souls of them all. This speaks of the fact that our objective was indeed honest and God stood beside us. Then the war commenced and the whole nation united as one. At those days everyone was in a very serious situation, however, all of them were ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of the objective of Artsakh liberation. This was the atmosphere we lived in”, he says.
The leader of Artsakh Diocese finds that the fight of Artsakh Armenians has deeper roots. Artsakh Movement, according to him, has commenced still in 1714, after the secret conference of Gandzasar Catholicos Yesayi Hasan-Jalalyan and 5 meliks of Artsakh. Afterwards, already in Soviet times, once in every weekend new manifestations came forth. The first sprout appeared in 1948, but it was the era of Stalin’s rule and it was difficult to continue consistently. Then, in 1957, when Vazgen A. Catholicos raised Artsakh and Nakhijevan issues in Kremlin. This was succeeded by 1965 and 1977 events. And finally, in 1988 the movement exploded: “I should also mention that in summer, 1987, when the secretary of the Regional Committee of Azerbaijani Shamkhor was trying to give the half of the lands of Chardakhlu village to Azerbaijanis for them to reproduce and invade the village, the local Armenians stood up. Terrible tortures commenced and the village was in an occupation for 6 months. Further on Azerbaijanis applied the same method for Artsakh.”
Davit ABAGHYAN
