Only an enemy could say that — Margaret Derants on Alen Simonyan’s statement

“You left Artsakh because it was unsafe there, although you could have stayed and fought, but you left. You could have fought with the weapons that Armenia gave you. You should have fought. Armenia fought,” Alen Simonyan replied to an Artsakh journalist in the National Assembly when she asked when she would be able to return to her homeland. Simonyan’s statement caused a wave of criticism among the general public.

Speaking with Alpha News, Armenian American writer, member of the Writers’ Union of Armenia and Artsakh, Margaret Derants noted that even if an ordinary citizen had said something similar, it would have been inhumane.

“Every word coming from the mouth of a state official, especially the President of the National Assembly, is very important. It can raise the nation, and it can also make people very emotional. First of all, the main mission of a state official is to unite the entire society around the same goals. This is a national dream, this is the construction of a worthy state, this is patriotism, but there is a more precise expression: building the homeland,” she said.

According to her, only an enemy could make such a statement.

“What we heard meant dividing different social classes, bringing enmity and discord among the people. Only an enemy can do this, that is, pour water into the mill of the opponents of the Armenian statehood.

The people of Artsakh are attached to their land, they are resilient, stubborn, they fought every day. Every second they expected the worst. There was such an unpredictable situation when everything could change at any second. We saw all this during the 44-day war of 2020, during the blockade of Artsakh, during the forced displacement of the Armenians of Artsakh,” Margaret Derants noted.