Author: Talar Tumanian

Head of the security team of the “Strong Armenia” party, colonel-investigator Arthur Avanesyan (Kandaz) on March 31 reminded Taken during Anna Hakobyan’s visit to Tavush on April 1, 2023 the statement that 11,000 deserters was during the 44-day war.

“The reality is that we had 11,000 defectors during the 44-day war, I’m not expressing myself differently, you understand what I’m talking about. 11 thousand soldiers, volunteers, officers, etc., you can imagine, right, what a number that is.” Hakobyan insisted.

Apart from the fact that Artur Avanesyan reminded about this statement of Anna Hakobyan, he also emphasized. “Our soldiers are not deserters, they fought like lions, and your husband left our soldier defenseless, without a weapon.”

Anna Hakobyan decided not to let the detective’s video reminder go unanswered.

“I cannot remember this person during the 44-day war. It would definitely have caught my eye, and of course it would have impressed me, I would hardly forget it. And the degree of his awareness about the war and the degree of awareness about the sensational news of just one month old in Inner Armenia are directly comparable. Obviously, he has no idea (news) from both of them.” he wrote on his Facebook page.

I wonder what upset Anna Hakobyan the most here: the reminder of her statement and the opposition to it, keeping the honor of a regular army soldier, or at least the accusation publicly addressed to her ex-husband? In any case, this response raised new questions and confirmed the validity of the existing ones.

For example, why did Kandaz have to be in Anna Hakobyan’s eyes, where was it possible to see her and not see her, is it possible to see all the participants of the war, the command, and then, did Anna Hakobyan hold the position of a military leader, did being the wife of the head of the country at that time allow her to be in the command post, to have access to information and actions containing elements of secrecy? Anna Hakobyan has a serious responsibility in the context of being at the command post during the war, especially when and how 168.amto had reported RA Ministry of Defense:“According to the governing documents, permanent or temporary permits are issued for access to relevant officials performing operational duties at command points.”

Does Hakobyan’s status at that time apply to this requirement defined by the governing documents, did Anna Hakobyan have the right to be in the bunker and remotely observe the hot combat operations taking place at that time, as she once told Former Minister of Defense of Artsakh, former Secretary of the Council of Artsakh Samvel Babayan.

Here another question also arises: who gave such permission outside the law: the head of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, the commander of the Armed Forces, the then president of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, or…

Let’s not forget that during the days of the 44-day war, Anna Hakobyan is also an important discussion had In the room of Araik Harutyunyan, the former president of Artsakh who was sentenced to life in Baku.

Moreover, it was in the days when Baku first began to accuse Armenia and the RA armed forces of targeting the civilian population of Ganja, why not, also when the well-known counter-strike operation was being developed or confirmed, for the failure of which Jalal Harutyunyan was first accused and then acquitted. Of course, there are other issues related to Anna Hakobyan and her participation in the context of the 44-day war, which we have touched on more than once, the last time on February 27 of this year, “Open and kept secret facts. Anna Hakobyan’s responsibility related to the 44-day war cannot be canceled or negotiated in the article, so we won’t go into too much detail in this case.

By the way, we even wrote on one occasion why Anna Hakobyan was not called to the Investigative Commission, or why she was not questioned in specific cases.

If the government circles or Anna Hakobyan had doubts about the 44-day context of the same Artur Avanesyan, Kandaz, and did not believe what was published in the press. data, why didn’t they talk about it earlier and only remembered now? It would be good if the same was done for the KP or pro-KP volunteers, who have many questions about what was done and what was not done in the 44-day war. there are questions and nothing that Artsrun Hovhannisyan invited them to briefings during the war.

And we have raised the issues related to the 44-day holiday that concern us in these years, not according to political convenience and preference, and we have always tried to get information or clarification from the relevant bodies. Another question is the extent to which they do or do not hide the information they have.

For example, from the Ministry of Defense reported where was Ashot Pashinyan during the 44-day war, but when and for how long, they avoided answering, do you agree that this is a key episode, or when did his squad retreat from the Alpasha hill, etc.?

By the way, we have not been able to find out why during the 44-day war 4 high-ranking officials of the NSS get rid of from work, including the director of the National Security Service, the head of military intelligence, the reason is unknown.

In particular, on October 7, 2020, as the official sources reported, he was removed from his post were Levon Shahumyan, head of military counter-intelligence of the NSS. “Armenian time” that presented in the context of espionage detection operations, is the reason here? And a day later?in 2020 on October 8 From the position of the director of the NSS was released Argishti Kyaramyan, who on October 5 had participated to the development of the mentioned operation or its discussion, does Anna Hakobyan know why? Despite this, Kyaramyan remained in Artsakh until the end after his dismissal, and later headed the RA Investigative Committee.

As for desertions during the 2020 war, of course there have been such cases, but the question is how many, from the regular army, or from casual war field reservists and volunteers, and what prompted it?

Anna Hakobyan seems to question the fact that the soldier is not a deserter, the degree of awareness of others on such delicate issues, we do not doubt that she possesses a serious information base.

Moreover, it is possible that neither the 44-day investigation commission nor the law enforcement agencies have much of the information that Nikol Pashinyan has in his hands, why?

Doesn’t possessing such a volume of information base and not fully transferring it to the relevant authorities imply specific responsibility?

And we have sent written requests to the RA Investigative Committee, the RA General Prosecutor’s Office and the RA Ministry of Defense in order to obtain new data related to the desertion. We will publish the answers as soon as we receive them. Maybe Anna Hakobyan is right: what we have is old, it needs updating, even though it is a year old.

In particular, RA Investigative Committee June 9, 2025in response to our inquiry, he informed that during the 44-day military operations of 2020, in the cases of crimes against military service in the divisions of the Main Military Investigation Department of the RA Investigative Committee About 1,500 criminal proceedings have been initiated against 11,000 or more servicemen. with which a preliminary investigation was carried out and the course of many criminal proceedings was resolved in accordance with the law.

In turn, at the same time RA General Prosecutor’s Office also announced the following.

“In response to the request of June 9, 2025, we inform you that in the service area of ​​the RA Military Prosecutor’s Office During the 2020 44-day war and declared martial law (from September 27, 2020 to March 24, 2021) in accordance with Part 7 of Article 361 (voluntarily leaving a military unit or place of service), Part 3 of Article 362 (desertion) and Part 3 of Article 364 (refusal to perform military service duties) of the RA Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003, as well as As of May 1, 2025, an investigation is being carried out in the pre-trial proceedings with criminal proceedings initiated by a combination of articles Regarding 8240 persons. Committed crimes provided for in the mentioned articles 352 guilty verdicts were passed on the persons.

Due to the course of pre-trial and judicial investigations, the said digital data are constantly changing.”

In June 2025, we tried to find out from Suren Papikyan through a written inquiry whether the number of 11,000 deserters corresponds to reality, how many of the alleged deserters are from the regular army, and how many are not, to which the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia answered.

«The question raised by you is beyond the scope of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia.”

And? 168.amin 2025 «Is Anna Hakobyan’s number about 11,000 desertions during the 44-day war a lie or a leak? with the text article: published, where we asked whether the number of 11,000 defectors mentioned by Anna Hakobyan might be a leak, and if so, by whose hand was it taken out of the walls of the Investigative Commission, although Andranik Kocharyan later did not deny the authenticity of that number. But here is a question, we repeat: were there deserters from the regular army, and what number are we talking about?

And it is precisely to find out the answer to these and other questions that we believe that the report of the 44-day investigative commission should be published, in this case it will become clear what reasons the military leadership mentioned during their interrogations for the defeat in the war, how relaxed they were in this matter, where is their responsibility and where is the political leadership?

In the end, one should also know how much the lack of modern weapons contributed to the defeat of the war, how much the quality and wrong use of the existing weapons, how much the command decisions led to the defeat, how much the Pashinyan management system itself, also the above-mentioned statutory violations, i.e., the organized disorganization or “complicated” state, how much the legislative loopholes played a role in the defeat, and finally how much the fact that only against us Azerbaijan did not fight.

By the way, it is interesting that the former military leadership should be demanding in answering and publicizing these questions, especially when all the responsibility is placed on the army, if, of course, the 44-day report covers them comprehensively. But we won’t know this if the report is kept under wraps.

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1919 was an important and at the same time difficult period in the history of the Republic of Armenia. The country had just declared independence, but it was facing both external political challenges and serious internal socio-economic problems. Under these conditions, the authorities of the republic tried to gain international support, strengthen the state structures and protect the territorial integrity of the country.

At the same time, the situation inside Armenia continued to be extremely difficult. The internal situation of the country became more complicated due to wars, a large flow of emigrants, famine and difficult economic conditions. The press of the time, the memoirs of intellectuals document that especially in Yerevan, it was a chaotic situation, there were orphans, emigrants everywhere, on the other hand, various epidemics were reaping abundantly in the republic and especially in Yerevan.

In that difficult situation, the press of the time also criticized the country’s leadership and accused them of omissions in a number of areas.

In 1919, the famous Armenian writer Axel Bakunts lived in Yerevan and was a correspondent for a number of newspapers of that region. Bakunts stayed in Yerevan and worked in newspapers until September 1919. His activities coincided with the difficult period of 1919. In Bakunt’s correspondence, we also find articles about the situation in Yerevan. In one of his articles, Bakunts presents that Georgian and Azerbaijani agents roamed freely in Yerevan at that time. Below is the full article.

«THE GUESTS

Yerevan is full of suspicious guests. All the suspicious elements exiled from Georgia arrive here, along with them the agents of Georgia and Azerbaijan also come to us and roam the streets of the capital freely.

To this day, no one has been deported from our territory, although their conspiratorial activities are obvious. All the khans and begs, who organized the massacre and deportation of the Armenian people last year, remain calm and live.

There is no doubt that the latest attempts of the Tatar uprising are led by such people from Yerevan.

And the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not resort to any means to neutralize the heart of the rebellion.

How to explain this criminal indifference? With weakness or with the patience of republican orders?

A new state, surrounded by enemies and ravaged by internal rebellion, cannot tolerate agents from a foreign power within its borders.

Moreover, all those elements who are hostile to our cause and demands shall leave this country and go to another place which is dear to them. Is it permissible that a certain “socialist” K., who tries to prove in long articles that the Armenian Karabakh is an inseparable part of Azerbaijan, or another “internationalist”-socialist A. and a member of the Armenian parliament, who declares that Georgians have the right and should rule Lori (for the sake of Armenian Menshevik specific internationalism), is it possible that such types, agents of Denikin and Ramishvili, who are different from Tajik agents, can “act” freely and even take office in our so hated country? B. July 31.” (“Nork”, 1989, N 5).

The events of 1919 show how difficult the state was. Axel Bakuntsi’s publications are also important testimonies of that period. This article reflects the concern that was widespread in society. with the country’s security, internal instability and external influences.

Similar articles give a chance to better imagine not only the political events, but also the concerns of the society of that region, the anxieties of the people and the dangers facing the newly created state.

Z. Sh:i was late

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At the request of RA: The EU will send a rapid response team Armenia to protect democracy during elections. the information that became known earlier was confirmed yesterday by the high representative of the EU, Kaya Kalas.

“We will not leave Armenia alone in the fight against foreign interference. Democracies under pressure can count on Europe,” the diplomat quoted his leader as saying. department.

Back in December, Kalas announced that the European Union would help Armenia in the fight against “hybrid threats” and third-party interference attempts in the 2026 parliamentary elections. He claimed that the EU plans to allocate 15 million euros for this.

168․amtalked about the topic political scientist Hrant Mikayelyan with, specifically wondering if this “support” to fight against “interventions” is not actually an intervention, and is this not also a prologue to the perspective that the elections will proceed according to the consensus scenario of the authorities and the West?

In response, Hrant Mikayelyan mentioned: “This is definitely an interference and of course they are interfering and they should say that it is against interference. it is an Orwellian reality in which we live, where, say, war is peace, and where foreign intervention is against foreign intervention, and not foreign intervention.

But the fact is that Brussels is already heavily involved in the internal politics of Armenia, and this is just another step. In addition, in a month and a half, the Brussels union will gather in Armenia at the 8th summit of the European Political Community, and, probably, after that, the RA-EU summit. And this, other than calling it an election campaign for Pashinyan, is not possible.”

The political scientist reminded that this is not the first episode when Brussels supports the current government and the so-called democracy, and, according to him, it is in this context that it is outlined that all repressions that take place in Armenia are, by and large, under the permission of Brussels.

As an example, the specialist reminded the situation of Moldova and Ukraine.

To the question: There are precedents that Brussels was able to play a role with its influence, and are there precedents indicating the opposite, when it was possible, for example, to overcome the “Brussels influence”, Hrant Mikayelyan answered:

“It is the experience of Georgia. Brussels tried (Brussels, of course, was not alone, together with London and Washington) to carry out a street coup. A new government came in America, they even confirmed that USAID, which was financed by US state funds, had participated in that anti-government activity.

But, in any case, the government in Georgia resisted such pressures with power levers. this is one thing, however, as for the opposition, it is a little more difficult to say here;

The EU has now become an internal political player in Armenia and exerts a great influence on the internal political process of Armenia, but we have seen several polls, according to which the opposition should win, therefore, there are opportunities for the opposition to win.”

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During the years of the Armenian Genocide and the difficult period that followed, along with non-governmental organizations, the Armenian Church also played a significant role, reaching out to thousands of emigrants. The first stop of most of the emigrants was St. Etchmiadzin, and the Mother See took the first blow of the Armenian Genocide in Eastern Armenia. In that period, the Catholicos was Gevorg Y. Surenyants. On December 28, 1914, the Fraternal Relief Committee was established under the leadership of Gevorg E. Surenyantsi and under his direct chairmanship.

The main mission of the organization was to provide support to wounded Armenian volunteers, as well as tens of thousands of emigrants who were deprived of their homes and material resources.

Starting from the summer months of 1915, a chaotic situation prevailed in Etchmiatsin. Everywhere there were thousands of migrants, orphans, the epidemic in its turn reaped a bountiful harvest in Etchmiatsin, famine in its turn.

Catholicos Gevorg Y. Surenyants was doing everything in that period to be able to help his people. In the official magazine of the Mother See of Saint Etchmiadzin, “Ararat”, we read exclusive details about the initiatives of the Catholicos of those days. From the November-December 1915 issue of the magazine, we learn that the Catholicos wrote a letter even to US President Woodrow Wilson at that time, asking him to help the Armenian emigrants. The Catholicos wrote the letter on December 19, 1915.

“Washington, United States to President Wilson.

According to the information that has reached us, in Mesopotamia, in Aleppo and Mosul, as well as in Cilicia and Pauls, several hundred thousand Armenians are found in a condition where their lives are even in danger.

The resources of my nation in the time of war are very small to help their brothers who are in need of blood, especially since we have no way to reach out for help, and we lack all means to send help to the places of poverty.

Mr. President, well knowing your noble heart and your humanitarian feelings towards the poor, I appeal to you with a warm request that you please take the great initiative to save my people in Tajikistan, organizing important measures to procure food, clothes and a place to live, to save them from inevitable loss.

The sufferings of my people in Tajikistan are bottomless and the endless human history has no such examples. I have great faith that the tragic situation of my nation and my appeal to the Knight President of the great Trans-Oceanic Republic will find an immediate response in his heart and soul, and the noble American nation will without delay reach out to help a people with a historical past that is condemned to immediate annihilation today.”

Signed after the real thing

“George E. Catholicos and Supreme Patriarch of all Armenians.” (“Ararat”, 1915, November-December, p. 843-844).

 

Studying the situation in that region, we learn that not only migrants, but also people living in the city, volunteers working in Etchmiatsin, and even clergy were getting sick and dying from the infection in Etchmiatsin. In the same issue of the magazine, we read that the Catholicos was also seriously ill during the writing of the above mentioned letter.

“On Dec. 21, His Holiness, feeling slightly ill, went to bed, but on the following and third day, the illness took an acute form and the temperature of His Holiness reached 40. On the advice of Dr. Eichler, who was following the course of the disease and taking care of him, a medical council was immediately invited, which was attended by MD, who was invited from Yerevan. Yovhannisian, thanks to which N. S. The serious condition of the anointing patient gradually recovered and he was put in a state of recovery. The doctors took all the care and care and always visited and were on duty.” (Ibid., p. 845).

During the years of the Armenian Genocide, St. Etchmiadzin became not only a spiritual center, but also a pillar of national salvation, accepting the first and heaviest wave of emigration. The initiatives of Catholicos Gevorg E. Surenyants, starting from the establishment of the Fraternal Aid Committee to the correspondence requesting international support, testify to the exceptional manifestations of the responsibility and devotion of the church. In those tragic days, the church, overcoming the epidemic and famine, became not only a witness of the disaster, but also a symbol of the struggle and hope standing alongside the people.

Z. Sh:i was late

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