‘Next is You’: Zohrabyan’s Letter to Onik Gasparyan

“Hello, General- Lieutenant. It’s hot. Terribly hot. And in this heat, after the recent charges brought and the detention of the former commander of the Defense Army of Artsakh, Mikhail Arzumanyan, the Investigative Committee of Armenia has just, as expected, filed charges against another former commander of the Defense Army of Artsakh, Jalal Harutyunyan, whose multiple serious charges can be briefly summarized: due to Jalal's negligence, inaction, and amateurism, we have suffered significant human and territorial losses.” This letter was written to Onik Gasparyan by former National Assembly Deputy Naira Zohrabyan.

“Factually, we lost Shushi because of Mikhail Harutyunyan, and due to Jalal Harutyunyan, we surrendered many other settlements and gave innocent victims.”

“Next is you, General-Lieutenant. Jalal Harutyunyan also believed, like you, that his obedient silence, his servility to Nikol, and the infamous phrase ‘I do not engage in politics’ which is favored by all sycophants, would immune him from being a sacrificial lamb, and that Nikol would not throw Shushi, Hadrut, Parukh, Karaglukh, several thousand victims into his pocket. The baton is now in your hands. You have been the chief of the General Staff and bear direct responsibility for the war.”

“And can you imagine what Nikol is going to throw into your pocket — the entire remaining package — Shushi and Hadrut along with it, 5 thousand victims and prisoners all thrown into your lap?”

“By the way, I am changing your perception among the overwhelming majority of the public: it would be better to act than remain silent because you all, those mythical generals of yours, who made that terrifying statement demanding Nikol's resignation, almost succeeded in branding you as a new general-lieutenant-messiah for the salvation of the homeland. After that, the officers threw their epaulettes at Nikol's feet, and you went to the Constitutional Court to restore your honor within the framework of the law and constitution.”

“After charges are brought against you, or even before, Nikol will reach Vitaly Balasanyan and Arayik Harutyunyan, and they should not think that the Russians will not allow it. As if they wouldn’t.”

“Nikol will reach everyone. Everyone. All those whose pockets it might theoretically be possible to throw this shameless, terrifying defeat and the responsibility for the deaths of innocent victims.”

“He will turn all of you into serial killers, those who took 18-year-olds and even those who have not yet passed youth and had them butchered under the drones.”

“Ah, I must not forget Movses Hakobyan, who also already supposedly ‘does not engage in politics.’ The culprit and responsible for this calamity will turn you all into a traitor, a deserter, and a serial killer, and it’s no coincidence that the outgoing prosecutor general, naturally at Nikol's behest, is proposing legislative initiatives to restore the death penalty for state treason.”

“You, the remaining mythical generals of Armenia and Artsakh, had a chance not to remain silent, to speak if you had something to genuinely say, as you did behind the walls and hinted in interviews. But you chose fear. Fear of Nikol. From a man who is terrified even by the shadow of Aliyev. That was all of your choice. Keep silent,” she wrote.