Vazgen Sargsyan: “We have no right to linger”
"Chaos reigns in the country. А lamebrain can take an automatic machine and play serious jokes on a whole nation. How can we defend each other with a feeling of suspect and intolerance? We have got tired of the talks over unity; we have got tired of citing Nzhdeh, but all in vain... We have no right to linger. Do hurry up lest dark forces make us enemies. Do hurry up as long as people trust us," Sparapet (Commander) Vazgen Sargsyan said in the 90s.
Today his words sound oracular, especially after the clashes of last March. It didn't even occur to the great Sparapet that one day Armenian may open fire at each other in the heart of Yerevan and an Armenian mother will mourn because of the pain caused by her compatriot.
Vazgen Sargsyan would be 50 years old on March 5. He is no longer alive as the fortune was unfair to him: he was killed by an Armenian.
Vazgen Sargsyan felt that the public opinion about his personality was not in line with his nature. He feared that he wouldn't be able to show his true colours. "People do not know me properly. Only my friends and acquaintances know me. Others think I am a gloomy and angry person with a beard and sweat. People don't know me, they fear me. They compare me with a bear; therefore they are afraid of me. Sometimes I also fear lest I shouldn't be able to speak to them and make myself comprehensible. I am not God, I am a soldier, I am an Armenian..."
After the elections of May 1999 public opinion moved sharply in favour of Vazgen Sargsyan. His personality inspired great respect and esteem, love and hope. People believed in him and trusted his pledges of reforms. They believed that things would better the next day. But the new day brought tragedy with it. Today we mark Vazgen Sargysan's anniversary without him. Vazgen Sargsyan's works accompany us everywhere and the memory of the great Sparapet obliges us to score a victory in everything...
