Tert.am has interviewed Manvel Grigoryan, the president of the Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers and a former deputy defense minister, who is celebrating his 56^th birthday anniversary today. 

The conversation turned out very interesting and meaningful. Below is an excerpt from the interview.

Following the recent border incidents that saw the enemy’s subversive groups attempting to penetrate into Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, causing losses and leaving people injured, many specialists believe that we are close to war. What does a Yerkrapah [member] think in that connection?

A Yerkrapah member always follows the principle if you want peace, prepare for war! No one knows the value of peace better than we do. We have lost brothers and friends, and we know what a big disaster war is. That is why we consider that it is necessary to be unanimous in this country and have a strong state and a strong army to make the insidious enemy imagine for an instant that he will fall down at our feet and implore peace in case of any infringement against our border. Let me recall that it was Azerbaijan that incited a war against us then while the Armenian formations, under the leadership of Sparapet Vazgen Sargsyan, imposed peace on the blood thirsty Turk. Just remember the Azerbaijanis fleeing in panic in 1994. Remember also how generous and merciful we were. We could have taken many territories, but we stopped because we know what peace is, because we guide ourselves by universal Christian values. We satisfied ourselves with liberating the small part of our homeland that is necessary for guaranteeing the security of Armenia and Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh]. Summing up, I can say that we do not wish a war, but we are ready for the worst. Should the enemy err and launch a war, I promise that the military operations will take place on its territory. It is quite possible in that case that we will not restrict ourselves with liberating only our native lands, as we did in 1994, and some now misunderstandingly call them occupied territories. All the territories liberated in 1994 are Armenian. Once your spade touches the ground anywhere there, you come across an Armenian cross-stone. Should a Turkish-Azeri try resort to a new attempt, we may then reach Kirovabad [Gyanja] and even Baku, apart from liberating Nakhichevan. It is necessary to nip the evil in the bud. We are not like them; we are peace- lovers. We haven’t slaughtered a child but we know how to fight resolutely once our homeland or families come under threat.

Should, heaven forbid, the war resume, will the society demonstrate spirit and the same mental renaissance that it did in the 1990s? Will our army be efficient?

An Armenian’s heroic spirit is immortal. The Armenian mothers are heroes, and they will never stop giving birth to heroes. Glory to our mothers! Glory to our brave [fighters] who who were fed on their pure milk! The under-25 population of Artsakh has never seen the Azerbaijani yoke. Let, by the way, the entire civilized humanity to keep in mind that Artsakh was never independent while being part of Azerbaijan. It was part of Azerbaijan only under the USSR rule. Be confident that the Armenian nation is resolute; the Armenian nation is unanimous to protect its native land and independence from an external threat. As for the Army, we do not separate ourselves from the military. A general or an officer knows no such thing as retirement. We all are in the reserve and will invest our might in the protection of our motherland. Yes, the Army does have shortcomings, which are corrigible. Have you ever asked the Azerbaijanis if they are ready? Just have a conversation with ordinary citizens of both Armenia and Azerbaijan. See what morals and manners their army pursues. Their youth serving there is going to fall victims to the political leadership’s adventures. In the early 1990s’ war the Armenians suffered thousands of losses, but the Azerbaijanis’ suffered several times more. Each citizen is dear to us, and we feel sorrow for those victims. Unlike Azerbaijan’s political and military leadership, we never send inexperienced fellows immediately to the frontline, making them cannon fodders. Does that mean the army is ready? All armies are obliged to be ready if they are really armies.Otherwise they would be a throng of cowards and defeatists, not an army.