Category: 2022

Ernest Herbert Dervishian

On August 10, 1916, in Richmond, Virginia, birds were singing and the sun was shining when Ernest Herbert Dervishian took his first breath. His parents Hagop and Mary were Armenian refugees who were forced to leave their beloved land and started a new life in the United States. After surviving hell, this little angel was a true gift of God.

Dervishian was a cheerful boy who was always willing to help and eager to learn something new. After studying at Richmond College, he decided to become a doctor until an unforgettable tour of the Medical College of Virginia made him change his mind. He later recalled, “They showed us the most gruesome things to see if we could take it, and I just couldn’t. This included an entire bin of cadavers. I had never seen a dead man before”. After realizing that the medical field wasn’t for him, Dervishian went to law school and passed the bar in December 1937.

A son is never old enough or strong enough to lose his dad, and neither was Dervishian. He lost his father on February 21, 1940. The following year, Dervishian put his law career on hold to serve his country and fight for peace, democracy and freedom. He became a proud member of the 133rd Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division and first saw combat in Tunisia. Like every soldier serving in the US Army, Dervishian received basic training, but nothing could prepare these young men for what they were about to endure.

Thousands of miles from home, Dervishian saw the indescribable horrors of war and knew that he could be captured, wounded or killed at any moment. The thought of dying and never seeing his loved ones again was terrifying. Dervishian later said, “Any man who tells you he’s not scared when fighting is either a fool or a liar.”

Author and educator John Baldoni once said, “Heroism is not blind courage: it is selfless action. It is knowing the odds are stacked against you, but feeling that you must do what you do for the good of others.” That is exactly what Dervishian did, day after day, battle after battle. 

T/Sgt Ernest H. Dervishian was among the infantrymen who confronted German forces in Italy. First near Salerno (September 1943), and then near Anzio (January 1944). The fighting was ferocious, and so many lives were taken by the cruelty of war.  

2nd Lt. Ernest H. Dervishian (far left) is enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner in Italy, November 27, 1944.

On May 23, 1944, Dervishian and four members of his platoon were near the village of Cisterna, Italy. They were far ahead of their company and were advancing cautiously. As Dervishian approached a railroad embankment, he spotted many German soldiers hiding in dugouts. He then told his four comrades to cover him and launched a solo attack, which took the Germans by surprise. Dervishian and his men captured 25 German prisoners who were picked up by advancing units. Shortly after, Dervishian and his men spotted more German soldiers and launched another attack against them. Ignoring his own safety and the bullets flying above his head, Dervishian kept moving forward and managed to capture more German soldiers. The Americans kept attacking German positions, but suddenly, Dervishian and his men were pinned down by a heavy machine gun stationed 15 yards away. In order to make the Germans stop firing, Dervishian decided to play dead. He later recalled, “I laid still for about 10 minutes. I was shaking so hard I thought it would give me away. Bullets sprayed alongside my arm so close that they made my sleeve flutter.” When the firing stopped, the unthinkable happened. Dervishian stood up and attacked the machine gun nest with hand grenades and his carbine. He forced the four Germans inside the nest to surrender and used their machine gun to attack another German position. The entire engagement lasted about 25 minutes, and Dervishian ultimately captured 39 German soldiers.  

General Dwight D. Eisenhower (left) meeting Ernest H. Dervishian in Richmond. (Photo courtesy: Armenian General Benevolent Union)

To honor his outstanding courage, on January 8, 1945, Dervishian was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award for military valor. When he returned to Richmond, the mayor declared February 1st as “Dervishian Day” with more than 30,000 people in attendance to acclaim this Armenian American hero.

Following the war, Dervishian remained active in the Army Reserve and retired as a colonel in 1968. He became the happiest man in the world on December 10, 1950, when he married the love of his life, Anne Garoogian. Together, they raised three lovely girls.

On May 20, 1984, in Richmond, Virginia, birds were singing and the sun was shining when a hero named Ernest Herbert Dervishian took his last breath. Three days later and exactly 40 years after that extraordinary day in Italy, a crowd gathered at Westhampton Memorial Park in Richmond, Virginia, to honor a remarkable man, a loving husband, a wonderful father and a true hero.

Ernest Dervishian’s grave at Westhampton Memorial Park in Richmond, Virginia

Like all the Armenian American heroes who gave everything they had to defeat the forces of tyranny, Dervishian didn’t consider himself a hero. “God’s hand was on my shoulder. I was lucky. Countless others performed acts equal to mine. They were not so lucky.” But Dervishian was a real hero—a relentless hero whose bravery was stronger than fear; a selfless hero who was willing to die for future generations to live in peace; an inspiring hero whose legacy will live on forever.

The attempted annihilation of ethnic and indigenous Armenians from Artsakh by Azerbaijan began well before the 2020 44-day war and has not ended after the supposed ceasefire was announced on November 9, 2020. On August 3, 2022 at 9:00 a.m., following separate closed-door meetings between first, the CIA, and second, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), and Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijan launched multiple attacks on Armenian positions in the Berdzor region of Artsakh, in stark violation of the November 9 announcement. Nineteen individuals were injured, and two members of the Artsakh Defense Forces, Gurgen Gabrielyan and Artur Khachatryan, were martyred defending their people’s right to live in their ancestral homeland. Following the unprovoked attack, the mayor of Aghavno, Antranig Chavoushian, confirmed that residents of the Berdzor district were told to abandon their homes and leave their village by the Artsakh Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, Hayk Khanumyan.

Azerbaijan’s unprovoked hostilities against the native Armenians of Artsakh is the latest in unsuccessful attempts to finish what the Ottoman Empire started in 1915. Equally worrisome, however, is the lackadaisical and inadequate response by the Republic of Armenia. In the weeks between July 19 and August 4, Pashinyan removed all units of the Armed Forces of Armenia that were stationed in Artsakh, and  has yet to condemn the attacks against Berdzor. Moreover, while Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan noted that Azerbaijan’s actions constitute a violation of the November 9 capitulation, the Armenian nation in general, and the people in Artsakh in particular, deserve more than a mere acknowledgment of the obvious. The treasonous government’s failure to take strong action against Azerbaijan and its willingness to appease and aid the Aliyev regime’s goal of ethnically cleansing Artsakh is the latest in a long line of troubling developments.

Amidst the continued attempted Genocide and ethnic cleansing of Armenians by Azerbaijan and its parent-state Turkey, Pashinyan’s government continues to entertain normalizing relations between Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan. Such talks and negotiations are futile when both Turkey and Azerbaijan deny the Armenian Genocide, praise its architects, and repeatedly demonstrate their desire to finish what the Young Turks started over 100 years ago. Pashinyan falsely believes that by trading our ancestral homeland, the Armenian people will finally attain peace. However, this delusion blatantly, and dangerously, ignores both historical and contemporaneous evidence to the contrary, such as the 2020 Artsakh War, the recent attacks against Berdzor, in conjunction with the long list of illegal Azeri aggression and the continued unlawful detention of hundreds of Armenian Prisoners of War by Azerbaijan. The Armenian Nation deserves a leader that protects Armenian lives, liberty, and human rights against the genocidal neighbors that would see it wiped from history. The Armenian Nation deserves a leader that places justice and dignity for their people above domestic power and profit. The Armenian Nation deserves a leader.

This most recent surrender of Berdzor and Aghavno now leaves Artsakh completely surrounded by Azerbaijan. This is not the time for us to shake our heads with yet another disappointment. It is high time for everyone to step up. The Armenian National Committee of America has put together two action items you can take from the comfort of your home. First, call the White House at (202) 456-1111 between 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Tuesdays through Thursdays and urge the White House to stop all military aid to Azerbaijan. Second, write to Congress and urge your senators and representatives to condemn Azerbaijan’s attacks, stop US arms and aid to Azerbaijan and support expanded aid to Artsakh. All of this can be done in a matter of two minutes by going to anca.org/907. We do not give up on Artsakh, we do not give up on the people of Aghavno and we do not give up on each other. Every one of us at some point has described Armenians as “resilient.” It is the time to demonstrate that resilience. That outrage. That fight. That will to live, survive and thrive in our homeland.

Berdzor (Wikimedia Commons)

Artsakh authorities have ordered the evacuation of the Armenian residents of the villages of Aghavno and Nerkin Sus and the town of Berdzor, all located along the Berdzor (Lachin) corridor, by August 25.

On August 5, the Artsakh Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Hayk Khanumyan said that the settlements must be evacuated in 20 days “within the framework of a civilian defense plan.” 

The Berdzor district was ceded to Azerbaijan after the 2020 Artsakh War, except for the Berdzor corridor. Under the terms of the ceasefire, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to construct an alternate route to the Berdzor corridor within the following three years, to which Russian peacekeepers would be redeployed. Pashinyan confirmed in late June that Aghavno, Nerkin Sus and Berdzor would be handed over to Azerbaijan after the construction of the new route. 

On August 2, the day before Azerbaijan launched its most recent attacks on Artsakh, Artsakh authorities shared that the Azerbaijani side had demanded that Armenians halt use of the Berdzor corridor and “organize traffic via the new route in the near future.” 

Secretary of the Armenian Security Council Armen Grigoryan responded that Azerbaijan’s claim was “not legitimate,” since no trilateral plan agreed upon by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia exists for the construction of a new route. 

The Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure announced last week that construction of the Armenian section of the road will start this month. Meanwhile, during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron on August 5, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said the construction of the Azerbaijan portion of the route is nearly complete. 

During a weekly cabinet meeting on August 4, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated that “no draft of such a plan has been proposed” to Armenia, although he said the Armenian government had proposed formulating a trilateral plan several times.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry responded that Armenia has been informed for months about construction along the “agreed on route” and accused the Armenian government of delaying the implementation of their agreement. 

Several critical pieces of infrastructure are located on the Berdzor corridor, including the natural gas pipeline that supplies Artsakh with its entire energy supply. Artsakh residents were deprived of heating and hot water for three weeks amid freezing temperatures in March after the Azerbaijani military prevented Armenian sapper groups from accessing a damaged section of the pipeline. 

The announcement that the Armenian residents of Aghavno, Nerkin Sus and Berdzor must evacuate came days after two Armenian soldiers were killed and 19 injured in incursions launched by Azerbaijan on August 1 and August 3 across the line of contact with Artsakh. 

Aghavno checkpoint (Wikimedia commons)

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) of Azerbaijan admitted to the attacks, stating that it captured several strategic heights near Armenian villages close to the Berdzor corridor. The MoD of Azerbaijan said it launched operation “Revenge” in retaliation for the death of an Azerbaijani soldier earlier in the day. 

The Russian peacekeeping contingent in Artsakh verified in its daily bulletin that Azerbaijan had violated the ceasefire on August 3. The chair of the EU Delegation for Relations with the South Caucasus Marina Kaljurand also said that Azerbaijan had violated the ceasefire and launched airstrikes by UAVs. 

In his August 4 comments, Pashinyan blamed the Russian peacekeeping mission for failing to prevent the attacks. He said the latest incursions, as well as previous ceasefire violations committed by Azerbaijan in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers, “raise questions among the Armenian public about the content and nature of the peacekeeping operation.” 

The ceasefire agreement ending the 2020 Artsakh War stipulates the deployment of Russian peacekeepers along the line of contact between Artsakh and Azerbaijan as well as along the Berdzor corridor, presently the sole route connecting Armenia and Artsakh, for a five-year period. Moscow shared several drafts of a plan outlining the peacekeepers’ roles and responsibilities with Baku and Yerevan in December 2020 and February 2021, according to the International Crisis Group. Yet Baku rejected the plan on the basis that it wanted Moscow to clearly state that the territory on which the peacekeepers are stationed is in Azerbaijan.

In his comments on August 4, Pashinyan said that while Azerbaijan refused to sign the mandate detailing the mission’s scope of responsibility, the signatures of Armenia and Russia are sufficient to implement it. Otherwise, he called for the creation of an international mandate, without providing details as to what that would entail. 

Pashinyan also addressed the demand by the Azerbaijani government that all Armenian forces must leave Artsakh, which the Azerbaijani MoD reiterated in its statement following the attacks. 

“What are illegal Armenian armed units still doing on Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory? They should all have been withdrawn in line with Nov. 10, 2020 statement. Armenia didn’t do it and bears all responsibility for current tension in the region,” Azerbaijani diplomat Nasimi Aghayev tweeted on August 3. 

Grigoryan said in mid-July that units of the Armenian armed forces would withdraw from Artsakh by September. However, Pashinyan said on August 4 that there are no servicemen from the Republic of Armenia in Artsakh.

“Today, Azerbaijan constantly talks about the Defense Army of Nagorno-Karabakh, why they are stationed along the contact line. If the Russian peacekeeping troops and Azerbaijan guarantee the integrity of the contact line, I think the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army will not have the need to carry out combat duty,” Pashinyan said.