VICTORY OR COMPENSATION!

Interview with director of the Memorial complex of heroic battle of Sardarapat, Armenian National Museum of Ethnography and History of the liberation struggle Karen Aristakesyan

– History shows that Armenians fought back Gallipoli army, and this glorious victory was important not only for us, the Armenians, but for halting the advance of the Turks, contributing to the collapse of their madcap plans. And we must celebrate with great fanfare all the victorious battles that had momentous importance for the Armenian people. We need to raise the spirit of the nation, especially the youth. Architect Rafael Israelyan said – when Armenian will understand that he is an Armenian, the whole world would be his. It is necessary to clearly identify the immediate and long-term goals of the people. We need to understand where we are going, what we want… Today we (the museum) can not get back the piece of land near the memorial complex of Musa-Ler, where they want to build a parking lot, because that was by mistake located in the land-plots of the village Parakar. We can not get it back because in our country priorities have not yet identified, because still they do not realize that there are more important things than building a shop or a casino.

Last year, the book “Heroes of the Battle of May 1918 in the memoirs of participants” was published, circulation – 500 copies. Half of the copies we gave the participants’ families, and the other half is not yet fully distributed. It is a pity that so far we have no films about the May battles.

We decided to put a clock on the central square of the Sardarapat memorial complex. On one side of the clock it will be written – victory, on the other – compensation. This watch will embody the idea of giving the importance of the historical moment. Either you have to win and make the defeated to pay, or you’ll be defeated and forced to pay, there is no middle ground.

We would also like to make this complex more attractive in terms of tourism: we need to fix the artificial lake, build a guest house designed by R.Israelyan. We also want to create a park of friendship. It is necessary to emphasize that in Sardarapat battle other nationalities also participated.

GAYANEH POGHOSYAN