I Apologize to My Ancestor, Queen Erato, for the Fact that Her Name Became a Common Insult in One Day: Anna Hakobyan

Today, two years after the 44-day war, I want to apologize to all the women in my unit for what happened to them during these two years. This was written on her Facebook page by the Prime Minister's spouse Anna Hakobyan.

“Two years ago, during the unequal war unleashed against us, I formed a women’s unit with the aim of being next to our soldier, to not leave him alone. Among the women who joined the unit, some of their sons were conscripted soldiers—meaning they were in the battlefield; some had joined in place of their brothers who, for various reasons, had not taken that step. We had a young doctor who had left her job at a well-known hospital in Germany and returned to our homeland from the first days of war; she provided assistance to soldiers brought back from the battlefield, but could no longer bear to see the scenes of wounded and fallen 18-20-year-old boys and decided to take up arms herself and be among them. We had a deputy who, upon attending the funerals of soldiers and seeing the still childlike faces of some of them, could not bear that sight and told herself that if these children could take up arms and fight, then so could she.

Thus, a women’s unit was formed, named after the Armenian queen Erato from the 5th to 8th centuries BC.

Today, two years after the 44-day war, I want to apologize to all the women in my unit for what happened to them during these two years. All these women were nailed to the pillar of shame, they were stoned, dishonored, subjected to mockery, hatred, and disgrace, pursued—some were dismissed from their jobs, some from their studies. I apologize to them for being the cause of their being turned into ‘common immoral women’ overnight.

I apologize from centuries away to my ancestor, Queen Erato, for her name becoming an ordinary insult in just one day.

I am leaving a message to my successors, to all those Armenian girls who will be born and live after us. - Dear little Armenian girl, if you ever read a sentence in history textbooks that says, ‘for centuries, Armenian women not only maintained their households but also took up arms during wartime and defended their homeland, as evidenced by the women’s unit “Erato,” formed during the war in the early 21st century by the spouse of the Prime Minister of Armenia, Anna Hakobyan,’ know that this sentence is simply a historical falsehood. A distortion of history, an indecent lie. In reality, the ‘Erato’ unit was the shame of the Armenian woman, proof that a woman’s place is at home, where she should live her life with her head bowed—even if the blood of her children is flowing on the unequal and treacherous battlefield.

And this is perhaps the only issue on which there is complete consensus among Armenians during these heavy and confusing times. After all, it’s true that the women of the ‘Erato’ unit were persecuted and mocked, and the name of Queen Erato was turned into sexual insults by several thousand people, but this happened in the context of the silent solidarity of millions, both in Armenia and in the diaspora.

Dear little Armenian girl, if you want to know the reason why I formed the ‘Erato’ unit, I will say, of course. When I was little, I read all our historical novels, I felt proud and believed every word. I had also believed in the historical figure of the Armenian woman. I considered it my duty to be a worthy heir of previous generations and at the same time to pass on strength and resilience to my compatriots going through a hellish war. These were my reasons and goals. But, as it turned out, it is not always that we write about everything we have done, and furthermore, it is not always that we do everything we talk about.

P.S. A few weeks ago, during the military attack on Armenia, five Armenian women were killed—soldiers and reservists. Their story should always be remembered; they will be Heroes in the pages of history and, now, they are also Heroes in our time. These women sacrificed their lives for the sake of the homeland and, at the same time, saved five children's lives. Eternal Tribute and Glory to them—Susanna Grigoryan, Anush Apetyan, Alisa Melkonyan, Irina Gasparyan, Gayane Abgaryan,” she wrote.