George Martin wrote in his “Game of Thrones” book: “Many people have been forgotten. Many deserve to be forgotten. But the heroes will always be remembered. To those who deserve it. The best and the worst. And some who were from both.”

Like it or not, the history of any country is the history of heroes. If you remove the heroes, it becomes a faceless essay. That is why the biggest danger of our public agenda is the merciless treatment of our heroes of the last 30 years. It seems like there is an undeclared “witch hunt” against them, Mikael Minasyan, the former RA ambassador to the Holy See, made such a post on his Facebook page.

“One of the vivid examples of that is the British BBC article about March 1. If there is an impression from it, then it is one. The targeting of the prominent military officer of Artsakh, Major General Samvel Karapetyan and the hypothetical connection between him and the victims. The article with its content will become a forgotten past tomorrow, but it will leave a wound. the article targeted our hero. Samvel Karapetyan is a hero.

Scott Fitzgerald used to say: Show me a hero and I’ll write a tragedy about him. I don’t know if it is our collective tragedy or individually, for example, General Manveli, who is in the defendant’s chair today. He, Monte and many others together liberated Artsakh. Unfortunately, Monte died, died and remained a hero. Manvel is there and instead of being able to atone for his real sins, he is in prison with a prank called “tushonka”.

The guys who made the April victory are heroes. All of them. The boys who fell both in the Artsakh war and in the April war will remain heroes forever, while those who are alive today are defendants or potential defendants.

Heroes are like that. Controversial. It has always been like that. And so it will be. How we should treat them is another matter. In order to leave the political context, but understand the problem, let’s take Ruben Hakhverdyan, for example. He is one of the stars of our time, a talented Yerevanian, the author of many popular songs. But Hakhverdyan has always stood out with the most absurd statements and embarrassing interviews. Has this changed his status or our attitude towards him? No. Now the same is about the heroes of the war and the country.

Regardless of our attitude towards many omissions and mistakes, there should not be complications in calling things by their names in Armenia, Artsakh and the entire Armenian people. It should not be complicated Levon Ter-Petorsyan not to be called a hero. Because President Ter-Petrosyan was the leader of Armenia in dire times for our state and people, in times of the dilemma of being or not being.

And, as the captain of a ship in rough seas, he and his team were able to bring the ship to safe harbor. It should not be complicated Robert Kocharyan not to be called a hero. Because President Kocharyan led Artsakh at the time of the split of the republic, and then he led the Republic of Armenia and ensured unquestionable progress for the two Armenian states, cementing our ship of state building step by step.

It should not be complicated Serzh Sargsyan not to be called a hero. Because under the leadership of President Sargsyan, who dedicated every day of his life to statehood and security for more than 30 years, Armenia faced almost all possible challenges, he set a benchmark for ensuring external and internal balance, opened up the country and gave Armenia wings that few could understand, that will provide flight.

Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan are heroes to me, despite the mistakes that all three made. And they still have something crucial to say today.

Unspeakable heroes are Vazgen Manukyan, Bako Sahakyan, Arkadi Ghukasyan and Pargev Srbazan, who made history during the war and in the post-war period.

Heroes are Arkadi Ter-Tadevosyan, Arshavir Gharamyan, Levon Mnatsakanyan, Vitali Balasanyan, Seyran Ohanyan, Movses Hakobyan, Samvel Babayan, Yuri Khachaturov, Mikayel Harutyunyan, Artur Aghabekyan, Manvel Grigoryan, Seyran Saroyan, Sasun Mikayelyan, Zhora Gasparyan, and others, despite yesterday or today or tomorrow. to their mistakes that they have done or could do.

One cannot and should not live with the thesis that “there is no past, only the present”. There is a past, in which there are both victories and mistakes, but we must go to the future. Heroes should be recognized, evaluated and, if necessary, called to account for mistakes. But not to discredit and destroy. Not to deprive the country of its foundation. Heroes are our support point, the creators of our destiny. It may be difficult with them, but it is impossible without them.

Heroes are also among the living. We should have the courage to see what history will record later. And enemies – as many as we want! Only or across the border? We should not have an enemy in Armenia. And we won’t have it.

No one fell in vain in battle and no one lives in vain today. It is not possible to have a society capable of making feats and revolutionary changes based on hatred. The right to live well and safely can only be earned in an atmosphere of solidarity. And it is possible,” he wrote.