The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports attempted to explain the reasons for removing the image of military commander Andranik from the school building in the village of Arteni

Arminfo.  A stone mosaic depicting military commander Andranik Ozanyan (Zoravar Andranik) was dismantled from the wall of Secondary School No. 1 in the village of Arteni, Aragatsotn Province.

Amid a wave of discontent that spread far beyond the village of Arteni, Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports (MOESCS) issued clarifications.

In particular, the MOESCS stated that the actions taken by the ministry were dictated exclusively by safety considerations.

<Due to the structural features of the school building and the incompatibility of the concrete part of the image, safety problems arose. To avoid possible risks and ensure children’s safety, it was decided, together with the administrative district, to move the image to the courtyard of the House of Culture located on Andranik Ozanyan Street, where a monument to fallen servicemen is currently being erected>, the ministry’s statement reads.

In addition, the MOESCS promised that after the completion of the site improvement work, the image would be installed in a prominent location accessible to the public.

Meanwhile, it should be recalled that in recent years, Armenia has repeatedly seen situations involving the removal of memorial images and symbols dedicated to servicemen killed during military operations. While government representatives either denied involvement in such actions or explained them by various reasons, including the need to carry out repair work or site improvement.

Thus, starting in 2024, reports circulated in the Armenian segment of social media that “Corners of Military Glory,” containing information and photographs of national heroes and participants in the Karabakh wars, were being removed from Armenian schools and military units.

At the same time, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia stated that it had not issued any orders, recommendations or instructions regarding the removal of “Corners of Military Glory” in Armenian schools.

This year, reports began appearing that murals depicting heroes who had fallen for their homeland were being erased under the pretext of city improvement or repair work. Thus, the first report was that images of at least five fallen servicemen had been painted over in underground pedestrian crossings in central Yerevan. Among them were Aykaz Mkrtchyan, who was killed at the age of 19 during the 44-day war of 2020, and Robert Abajyan, a hero of the April 2016 war. It was also reported that images of three other servicemen had been removed from the wall of another underground crossing.

Then, an image of Albert Hovhannisyan was removed from the wall near the main entrance to Victory Park in Yerevan. He was a serviceman killed in the 44-day  Artsakh war and posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Artsakh.  It later became known that two more murals depicting fallen servicemen—Gevorg Asatryan and Hovhannes Khoderyan—had been removed.