Open Letter to the Turkish Soldier

Military servant Armen Kocharyan wrote on his Facebook page: “Open Letter to the Turkish Soldier. Hello, my enemy!

What has happened between our nations, I do not want to discuss at this moment; talking is pointless right now. I do not wish to call for peace because this kind of peace is not what I want myself.

I want to remind you that we are both soldiers, regardless of nationality. I understand you, and you understand me, for the simple reason that we are both children of our countries, both soldiers of our nations. I believe you have tasted the bitter flavor of death just like I have; you have remembered the good and bad moments of your life with the falling shell and loved life more.

Today you have won the war, and I do not care what path led you to victory. I do not judge the victors, for when I win, I will force you to reconcile with that thought.

Today I see your actions towards our soldiers, and as a soldier, I do not understand you... I want you to realize one thing: no matter how sweet a lie may be, it is always destructive and corrosive—first to the people around you, and then to yourself.

The myth you propagate among your people is just a myth to represent you as a nation before the world. The fact that there are fleeing soldiers in our army is true; I will not even try to deny it, but I must remind you that your army is more famous for its cowardly, fleeing soldiers than ours. This opinion is formed by my own eyes, not by heroic stories written by our historians.

Today I see how you cut off the ears of my nation’s soldier; you humiliate him simply for being born Armenian. But have you tried to look at him as a soldier, to realize that he, like you, is fighting in a war in which you are also engaged, and the path you are taking on your side is being undertaken by him—just on our side?

Have you thought that by cutting off his ear, you lay the groundwork for me to think about cutting off your ear, for me to become bitter like you? But I want both of us to think alike about this issue after reading my letter.

Let us respect our military duty, let us not defile the slain or the captured in the worst-case scenarios, for in doing so, our victories or defeats do not increase or decrease. History will write that Azerbaijan has won or lost this war; the rest will be heroic lyrics and nothing more.

You will take nothing with you from this life, nothing... And your children will inherit the bitter revenge of my nation’s children. I want our struggle to be just, without cutting off heads or ears. I, one of them, have been on the battlefield, and I have respected the bodies of our and your fallen soldiers; I have done nothing with their bodies.

Let me remain your enemy as long as you want and as long as I want—even for centuries—but let’s remain humans as long as we breathe and exist in this world.”