After the 44-day war, Armenian Army Day was not celebrated on a national level in Artsakh. Even President Arayik Harutyunyan was not in Stepanakert; he was in Yerevan,
Small groups of people, families, and friends gathered and visited the memorial in honor of those who died in the Artsakh War in Stepanakert. They put flowers by fallen soldiers’ graves, they remembered, grieved, and cried…
The visitors of the memorial were silent and thoughtful, and they did not wish to talk much. They responded to my questions with a sad smile or a hand gesture that indicated that they were not in the mood to talk.
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The commander of the repairing and reconstruction base of the Defense Army, Arkady Tsatryan, was also at the memorial. He came to visit his fallen friends’ graves. In an interview with Aravot Daily, he said that it is especially difficult to visit their graves now.
Despite everything, the commander knows one thing for certain. “We are able to change ourselves. We must change ourselves. We must make our army stronger.” On his behalf, he promised, “I will serve my nation for as long as I have to.”
Arkady Tsatryan was also a bit confused. “I would have considered it right for Army Day to have been celebrated on a national level. Perhaps our grief is so deep that they were unable to decide. In any case, we must exist and we must get stronger. We must not break.”
Nelly Grigoryan
