The “Crusaders” detachment protested in front of the government building yesterday, and the detachment commander, Sargis Poghosyan, presented their demands. “First, we say that Artsakh is Armenia, and no one can take it away from us. Artsakh was ours; it will remain ours; whoever wants to sign any paper, we own this country. Our struggle is Artsakh; we gave Artsakh, then we will give Syunik. Whoever has self-respect should take a piece of rope and hang himself. Today, they have attached to our self-love, so don’t you want to go after your self-love? The lack of self-love has entered this nation, and we are gnawing at each other,” he said.
Regarding the authorities’ statements that we lost after the war, the forces are unequal, Sargis Poghosyan said: “They are lying; we will prove it.”
He mentioned that it is necessary to fight for Artsakh together, open the corridor and support the people of Artsakh. “Our demand is from the government. If we see that the government is indifferent to these issues, we will do it in our way, by military means. I say it out loud; it’s not a secret. If the government does not solve this issue, we will do it with our strength; none of us is afraid of dying. If the government does not give us a clear answer today, we will answer to the government, the people of Artsakh, and Yerablur,” he said.
Sargis Poghosyan added that the road connecting Artsakh to Armenia should be opened not temporarily but permanently. He mentioned that they would stay near the government building until their demands were met. “We will pitch the military tents to the middle of the square. Everyone comes from the region, even people from outside the country. We will fight for the people of Artsakh until the end. We will open the way; we will open the way with war. We have our military secrets, but there is a measure and an hour and when came to it, and the road was not opened; we give you a word with these guys that we will open it. Let us have victims, nothing; we are no more than the guys lying in Yerablur. We call on everyone, the Diaspora, to join Artsakh,” he said.
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Poghosyan mentioned that during the war, they were deceived; the authorities gave the order to retreat, but today there will be no retreat. “We came here to do business; we are capable of anything; we will take the worst steps to open the way.” Sargis Poghosyan also said that they want weapons from the government. “There is a 30,000-strong army; are they arming it?” Let them arm us; we will open that way,” he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Gevorg Nahapetyan, Deputy Commander of the “Crusaders,” said: “The purpose of our being here is neither to make a coup nor to appear in the political field; we are fighting boys, we do not engage in politics, ours is the trench, the artillery. The only purpose of our gathering here is that those 400 tons of food now standing on the roads and rotting reach Artsakh. In the 21st century, we should not allow the genocide of our Artsakh children. Those children are dying of hunger, but we are Armenians; today, the children of Artsakh will die of hunger, tomorrow those of Syunik, and the next day those of Yeraskh and Yerevan. Let every Armenian ask himself whether the children there are his or not. All of us standing here think that the children of Artsakh are ours. And if they cannot do it, let them give us the opportunity; we can unite with the fighting boys, choose a commander for us, and in a very short time, that checkpoint will not be there. We should not put our hopes on the superpowers; everyone has their interests; today, we must save our homeland. Who says that the fighting boys have lost their spirit? The fighting boys are still standing; nothing is impossible. In 1993, our seniors had nothing, but we made a glorious victory because we came together.”
Sargis Poghosyan met with the government, after which he told journalists: “I spoke with a person who could not be useful to us in any way, but my words will reach a place. The condition is this: until 18:00, if the road to Artsakh is not opened, food does not enter Artsakh so that the people of Artsakh eat bread, we will open that road. I said this condition and left. Now we are waiting until six o’clock; if that food did not enter Artsakh, we will bring it to Artsakh. If the authorities want, they will talk to the Russian generals; we don’t bring weapons to Artsakh; we bring food. They are psychologically pressuring the people of Artsakh to evacuate Artsakh, but we don’t want to submit to it.”
Rosa HOVHANNISYAN
