Friday, June 10 2016 11:06

 We do not understand why the monument to Garegin Nzhdeh was erected in Yerevan, Official Representative of Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stated at today's briefing. 

According to her everybody knows Russia's stand on display of any form of rebirth and glorification of fascism, neo-Nazism and Nazism. "It is strange for us that this monument has been erected as we all know Armenia's heroic participation in the Great Patriotic War" Zakharova noted. 

At the same time she noted that Armenia's celebration of May 9th is the indicator of the Armenian side's perception of history for Moscow. Besides on December 17, 2015 during the 70th session of the UN General Assembly a resolution "Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance" was adopted and Armenia supported this resolution. Moreover, it was Armenia's representative who read the resolution from the UN tribune. We consider this to be Armenia's official position", Zakharova summarized. 

To recall, on May 28 a monument to Garegin Nzhdeh, hero of the Armenian national liberation movement of early XX century, was unveiled in the park adjacent to Republic Square Metro Station in Yerevan. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Mayor of Yerevan Taron Margaryan and Nzhdeh's great-grandson Armen Babayan and other high-ranking officials attended the ceremony. Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan (1 January 1886 - 21 December 1955, better known by his name de guerre Garegin Nzhdeh) was an Armenian statesman and military strategist. As a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, he was involved in national liberation struggle and revolutionary activities during the First Balkan War and World War I.  Garegin Nzhdeh was one of the key political and military leaders of the First Republic of Armenia (1918-1921), and is widely admired as a charismatic national hero by Armenians. It was due to Nzhdeh that Armenia retained Syunik region in earlier 1920ies. During World War II Nzhdeh suggested supporting the Axis powers if the latter would make a decision to attack Turkey. Operation Gertrud, a joint German-Bulgarian project about attacking Turkey in the event that Ankara joined the allies, was largely discussed in Berlin. The Armenian military unit, which was supposed to be used against Turkey was sent to the Eastern front, to the Crimean peninsula, in 1943.  Nzhdeh requested the detachment's return, and terminated his connections with Nazi Germany. On 9 September 1944 Nzhdeh wrote a letter to Stalin offering his support were the Soviet leadership to attack Turkey. A Soviet plan to invade Turkey in order to punish Ankara for collaboration with the Nazis and also for returning the occupied Western Armenia territories was intensely discussed by the Soviet leadership in 1945-1947.The Soviet military commanders told Nzhdeh that the idea of collaboration was interesting but in order to be able to discuss it in more details, Nzhdeh would have needed to travel to Moscow. He was transferred to Bucharest and later to Moscow, where he was arrested and held in the Lubyanka prison.  After his arrest, Nzhdeh's wife and son were sent to exile from Sofia to Pavlikeni. In November 1946, Nzhdeh was sent to Yerevan, Armenia, awaiting trial. At the end of his trial, on 24 April 1948, Nzhdeh was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment (to begin in 1944).