Russians are grateful people. Recently, people from Anapa brought a handful of soil from the grave of my father. I felt better. As if my father returned home and has his grave in his homeland. These people told that in that Russian village all weddings begin at the memorial plate of my father, the bride and groom water trees, put flowers on the grave. My sons have repeatedly been in Anapa and participated in the events.

These days the book of writer and journalist Sergey Vardanyan “Bloody seed” in Russian was released. The book talks about the participation of the Armenians of Abkhazia and Krasnodar in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. Particular attention is paid to the exploits of 13 Armenians – Heroes of the Soviet Union.

In my childhood years at home the most prohibited item for the children was the diary of my father of the war years. When my brother was 18 years old, he asked my father: “What did you want when you were 18?” He replied: “I was lying wounded in the mud and dreamed of a drink of cold water.”

On April 25, the subdivision of RA AF under the command of the joint group of RA AF and RF AF forces commander, Lieutenant General Michael Grigoryan left for Moscow to participate in the parade dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

There is nothing in this world without God. We live thanks to God. Since childhood, I’ve loved my people, wanted to see the victory of the Armenians… and saw the victory of Artsakh. During the Artsakh movement I have been at meetings at Opera Square in Yerevan. When I saw half a million people who do not trample on the grass, not tear branches, share with each other the bread, I cried with joy. It seemed to me that the Holy Spirit came down and my people became holy. People became united, honest, brave. Here it struck me.

On April 24, in Yerevan and Istanbul parallel events were held: the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the parade of the Battle of Gallipoli. This year, the denial policy of the Turkish authorities came to a climax, they were forced to falsify even the world history, moving the date of the Battle of Gallipoli to April 24th. Apparently Ankara wanted to overshadow events in Armenia. However, the Turkish venture failed. Turkey did not consider that the international community is faithful to universal values, that memories of the Holocaust, genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia and others are still fresh. This “show” was attended by the leaders of those countries that have or do not want to spoil relations with Ankara, or at one time were the performers of such crimes.

In the early days of the Great Patriotic War national divisions were formed. The first Armenian 67th Division of the 11th Army, formed on the initiative of Miasnikyan, went to the front. Then Armenian 390th, 261st, 408th divisions were formed.
In August 1941, in Leninakan 409th Division was formed, which in1942 was renamed “Armenian”. The division commander was Colonel Artashes Vasilian, Commissar – Arshaluys Hayrapetyan, deputy commanders – Colonels Ivan Prokopenko and Stepan Stepanyan, head of the politburo – Liparit Vardanyan. There were 15 thousand soldiers and officers in the division.