ArmInfo. The Russian State Duma condemned the act of vandalism on the memorial plaque of the hero of Armenia in Armavir.
So, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, MP Konstantin Zatulin, commenting on this act, said that the need to save or dismantle the board should be resolved through internal Armenian discussion without Russian participation.
According to Konstantin Zatulin, an act of vandalism committed by the Armavir MP shows a situation where "a helpful fool is more dangerous than the enemy." "Indeed, there are different opinions about Garegin Nzhdeh, because the figure is contradictory for us. But for the Armenians he remains a nationalist who has been fighting the Turks all his life. Moreover, he rightly considered them guilty of the genocide of the Armenian people during the First World War. Therefore, he had a difficult relationship with the Soviet government. The USSR then helped Turkey by rejecting one of the first decrees from Turkish Armenia. But this refers to that period, "Zatulin said in an interview with the Federal News Agency.
Nzhdeh really entered into a "certain kind of relationship" with Germany, says Zatulin, but what is attributed to him is "complete nonsense."
"Nzhdeh had nothing to do with the formation of military units of the Wehrmacht. He was afraid that Turkey would sooner or later take the side of Adolf Hitler against the USSR. As a result, the horrors of the Armenian massacre in the Caucasus will be repeated," he explained.
Nzhdeh cannot be a hero for the Russians, but "one must be a thoughtless Russian deputy of the" Armavir spill "in order to come and destroy the board in the Armenian church," Zatulin criticized the act of the local parliamentarian.
"Not a Russian should speak out on this matter - if the Armenians abandon Nzhdeh's memory, then it will be an intra-Armenian discussion. And when we penetrate the church's territory, it does nothing but harm international relations," he added.
First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense, MP Alexander Sherin, shared his opinion about the situation, urging to avoid double standards in assessing historical heritage and monuments. He emphasizes that Armenians are co-religionists of Russians, and Armenia is Russia's CSTO ally, therefore, officials should be careful about the values of the Armenian people and condemn manifestations of vandalism.
" Armenians for us are co-religionists.. We also do not experience the best times connection with attempts to split the Russian Orthodox Church. It must be remembered that Armenia is a reliable friend and partner of Russia. This is legally fixed, as Armenia has been a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization since the first days of the founding of this international organization. ization ", - the deputy said in an interview with news agency <realist>. As ArmInfo reported earlier, yesterday an act of vandalism was recorded on the territory of the Armenian church in Russian Armavir, in particular, member of the Armavir City Council Alexey Vinogradov entered the church territory and painted a memorial plate to the National Hero of Armenia Garegin Nzhdeh with black paint. As Vinogradov explained to the Russian media, he resorted to this step, since on November 11, a two-week period had passed, during which the regional and local authorities, as well as representatives of the local branch of the "Union of Armenians of Russia" promised to dismantle the plaque to Nzhdeh. Earlier, Vinogradov has repeatedly stated that in case of failure to fulfill promises to dismantle the board, he will resolve this issue himself.
To recall, earlier the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov promised to make efforts to dismantle the memorial plaque to Garegin Nzhdeh in Russian Armavir. He stated this in an interview with one of the Azerbaijani media. "I intend to deal with this issue personally. I will personally send requests and I will seek dismantling.", Kalashnikov noted. At the same time, representatives of the Azerbaijani community of Russia demand that the Armavir Municipality dismantles the memorial tablet in honor of Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan (Nzhdeh), installed in 2012 in the territory of the Armenian Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the initiative of the Armavir branch of the Union of Armenians of Russia. The small plate installed in Armavir in honor of Nzhdeh symbolizes the Armenian national spirit. In addition to Nzhdeh, the sculptural structure depicts Andranik Ozanyan (1865-1927) - an associate of Nzhdeh, the national hero of Armenia, the general of the Russian Empire, the leader of the Armenian liberation movement in the Ottoman Empire and in Transcaucasia during the Civil War in Russia. This issue escalated after a verbal skirmish that occured between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Ashgabat because of Nzhdeh.