Nalbandian: Statements about Nzhdeh`s involvement in fascism - speculation

ArmInfo. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian believes that statements about the involvement of the hero of the Armenian people Garegin Nzhdeh to fascism are speculations.

On January 29, the summing up of the results of 2017, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said, referring to the Round Table held in the State Duma of the Russian Federation, where the issue of the demolition of the monument to Nzhdeh in Yerevan was discussed "This is speculation on the part of some of our opponents, which are being committed intentionally, and we should not fall for this trap." Armenia on various levels made statements on this issue, and I have nothing to add to this," Nalbandian said. In the State Duma of Russia a round table was held on the topic "Combating the glamorization of fascism and the revival of neo-Nazism: legislative aspects," during which the participants of the event announced the necessity of demolishing the monument to the hero of the Armenian people Garegin Nzhdeh in Yerevan.

The event was attended by State Duma deputies, members of the Federation Council and public chamber, political scientists, experts and representatives of the media. In the course of the roundtable, political analysts Sergey Markov and Dionys Kaptar noted with their pro-Azerbaijani views that Armenia "was among those countries where monuments to collaborators and accomplices of fascism have been erected today," although Yerevan is positioning itself as Moscow's strategic ally. Sergey Markov also said that more than 200 thousand people signed a petition on the demolition of the monument to Nzhdeh in Yerevan on Change.org website. In these processes, the vice speaker of the Armenian parliament, press secretary of the ruling Republican Party Eduard Sharmazanov, in a talk with the correspondent of ArmInfo, saw the Azerbaijani trace in the activities of some "Russian marginal circles." He assured that these processes do not reflect Moscow's official position. "Whoever puts a monument in our republic is our sovereign cause: Nzhdeh is a hero of the Armenian people, and our sovereign cause, whether to put a monument to him or not, does not concern other nations." Just like Russia's sovereign cause to put a monument, say, Kutuzov or not," said Sharmazanov. Concerning accusations against Nzhdeh in the complicity of the fascist regime of Hitler, the vice-speaker recalled that at the time, on the instructions of the USSR Secretary General Joseph Stalin isntructed the Foreign Minister Molotov to sign a pact on cooperation and non-aggression with his German counterpart, the German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop. "It turns out that Stalin and Molotov should also be accused of complicity with fascism?" the Armenian vice-speaker asked a rhetorical question.