On May 8th the Day of Yerkrapah (country defender) was celebrated. Festivities were held not only in Yerevan, Stepanakert, in the regions of Armenia and Artsakh, but also in Diaspora. This year for the first time in the Holy See of Echmiadzin and other dioceses of the Armenian apostolic church a liturgy was served for the souls of the victims of the liberation war. On the occasion of the festival on the decree of the RA President 20 liberation warriors were awarded the highest state awards, and on the order of the Defense Minister 20 were awarded departmental medals, and almost 5000 people were awarded awards, medals and valuable presents from Yerkrapah Volunteers Union.

He was born in 1977 in Askeran. Participated in military actions. When he was 12, he took weapon and protected his town. After the ceasefire got the profession of a tankman, afterwards studied at the Officers School, at the University of Management. In the tank regiment he hold the positions of platoon commander, company commander, battalion chief of staff. Was awarded medals, other awards.

Many centuries Armenian nation and the Armenian church have fought to protect our unique spiritual and cultural heritage. We respected also spiritual and cultural uniqueness of the neighboring nations.
However there are sects which pose a danger. There are also some anti-religious organizations, social groups which pose a danger. Emo, Gots, satanists, anti-christs belong to those organizations. Majority of them pose a danger when their representatives serve in the army, since for them life is not worth. The culmination of their ideology is suicide.

The visit of EU High Commissioner Catherine Ashton to Iran, her visit of the Armenian Church and Genocide Museum in Isfahan spawned a great wave of protest in Iran’s Azeri-populated regions. However, I think, this is a sign which shows that Iran is with us.

Today 1450 veterans of the Great Patriotic War live in Armenia, the youngest of them is 88 years old. Three of them will take part in the Victory Parade in Moscow on the 9th of May and 10 of them – in Novorossiysk. For the last 2 years the number of GPW veterans, living in Armenia, halved.

The General who is more popularly known with his honorable name Commandos, 22 years ago led the liberation fights of the city of Shoushi. The operation, called «Wedding in the mountains», without hesitation can be attributed to a number of the best combat operations of the Armenian liberation war.

Colonel Razmik Simonyan’s memoires after 30 years of Afghanistan war give answers to the question – for what was the Afghan War?
Having a clear idea of the tragic consequences of the war and a clear assessment of the politicians’ political decisions, starting the war, Simonyan, as a real serviceman, does not protrude from the standpoint of criticism of the Afghan war but informs about his particular point of view. Yes, it was a brutal war, however the war was fought on the basis of the strategic interests of the Soviet country, and each soldier, fighting in Afghanistan, on the cost of untold suffering and blood, fulfilled his internationalist duty to the motherland and the people.