Today, September 27, marks five years since the outbreak of the bloody 44-Day War that profoundly reshaped Armenian history — not only in Artsakh, but across Armenia and the diaspora. During the assault, Artsakh and the world witnessed the unprecedented use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in mass warfare for the first time — a stark contrast to the first Karabakh War (1988-1944), which relied on Soviet-era weapons and tanks. Thousands of young Armenian men, most barely 18 to 20 years old, were struck down by these machines, many perishing before they had a chance to defend their homes.
In the fall of 2021, I met a French writer and journalist who had traveled to Yerevan to investigate this unprecedented use of drone warfare. She likened the devastation in Artsakh to the first use of nuclear weapons, describing the drone attacks as an experimental form of high-tech warfare carried out on a small, tightly controlled territory, where soldiers and civilians alike became unwilling subjects of unrelenting destruction.
What shocked her most, however, was Armenia’s response to this trauma. Just one year after the 44-Day War, on Armenia’s Independence Day in September 2021, the government organized the country’s first-ever “drone show” in Yerevan. Spectators watched as different iterations of the same machines that had wrought such devastation now danced in coordinated patterns across the skies.
“How could a nation mark its independence in this way?” she asked, disappointed. The celebration centered the very technology that, one year prior, had been used to slaughter our martyrs. For thousands of families, “drones” became symbols of immeasurable loss. Mothers, who had learned the word only in connection with the deaths of their sons, saw their grief obscured by synchronized flashes of light and music.
At the time, I thought this reflected a government desperate to distance itself from Artsakh in the face of defeat — outsourcing responsibility and avoiding accountability. As the saying goes: victory has many fathers, but defeat is an orphan.
Then, on September 13, 2022, Azerbaijan invaded Armenia again, killing 224 Armenians — civilians and soldiers alike — and executing and mutilating unarmed prisoners of war. Female soldiers like Anush Apetyan were tortured, mutilated, raped and killed. Azerbaijan continues to occupy ancestral lands drenched in the blood of our martyrs. Yet on the third anniversary of that war, no government official spoke a word of remembrance or mourning.
Worse still, the state organized a festival/Ֆեստիվառ, complete with a concert and celebrations. This was not just an insult to the memory of the fallen but a clear message that those who sacrificed their lives for the homeland, or lost their homes and loved ones, did not merit acknowledgement.
Armenian officials showed the same reckless disregard on September 19, 2023, the day of Azerbaijan’s brutal offensive on Artsakh after a nine-month siege that starved its people. Amid forced displacement, a massive explosion tore through a fuel depot near Stepanakert, killing more than 219 people, leaving 22 missing and hundreds wounded. It remains one of the deadliest man-made tragedies in recent Armenian history, yet no national day of mourning was declared, no official condolences offered, no memorial service held — not two years ago and certainly not today.
Families of the victims, many of whom lost their breadwinners, continue to face overwhelming social and economic challenges, ignored by the very state that should have protected them. Instead, officials chose to “color” the day with medals handed out to hundreds of bureaucrats — a spectacle that stood in stark contrast to the gravity of the loss and grief.
By erasing the memory of those who sacrificed everything, we not only dishonor their courage but pave a dangerous path toward collective amnesia and apathy.
As we are pushed toward a vague, uncertain “peace,” we cannot forget that across the wars fought over Artsakh and Armenia, an estimated 12,000 soldiers were martyred — a loss that, if laid end to end, would stretch across the 12,000 square kilometers once held by Artsakh. This past cannot be met with denial.
Will we allow empty, symbolic celebrations or statements to obscure our minds? Or will we look past fleeting flashes of light to recognize that forgetting is not an option — it is the greatest threat to our identity and our future.
All those drones in 2021 came one year too late!
The truth, of course, is that the money assigned for drones before 2020 was drained away through corruption and those drones that were available were wasted through incompetence.
Shameful!
Nothing to do but learn from defeat.
This utter insensitivity and disregard to the fallen Armenian soldiers, their grieving families, the veterans and to everybody else who experienced loss and trauma at the hands of Azerbaijan, is not only rubbing salt into the wound, it demonstrates how indifferent and callous the Pashinyan government is. It is emblematic and symptomatic of this rotten autocrat and of his government, and of the plight Armenia is in.
Armenia will continue to suffer humiliation from its external Turkic enemies and from its internal enemies like Pashinyan, who is practically doing their bidding, and will continue to spiral downwards, if this archtraitor and appeaser continues to misrule and sabotage Armenia.
Patriotic Armenians need to get rid of this filth ASAP, either through a popular uprising or through a coup d’état, because in all likelihood he won’t leave power willingly and through the ballot box, and will try to cling to it at all costs.
Well simply develop and procure drones to ward off aggressors it is the new way of war as Armenia stuck at the time in soviet thinking was to find out the hard way and subsequent conflicts around the world have furthered this principle.
As the recent defeats and tragedies such as the petrol station conflagration in stepnankeret as the exodus took place the government clearly wants to overlook embarrassing failures.
All you have to do, if you’re in Yerevan, ia take a walk around and have a look at the beautiful homes.
All those palatial homes and mansions, where do you think they come from? – especially when you find out that they belong to government ministers and civil servants.
On a government salary they could afford those homes?!
No!
Stand in front of them and you’ll realise where Armenia’s drone money went.
Before Armenia can even think of facing the Turks, it must first purge itself clean and pure.
The corruption, self-enrichment, self-serving and injustice from this lot, has rotted the Armenian state to its core with disastrous consequences. This is exactly French Revolution material. Except, that this has still not caused a spark among the population. The fake color revolution started by Pashinyan, only exploited this festering problem, in order to come to power, and to join the corrupt and greedy elite!
The reason why there has not been a revolution is that everyone is clinging to the hope that Pashinyan can be removed peacefully at the June 2026 elections.
Everyone wants to give democracy one last chance.
But if Pashinyan rigs the election then everyone will see that there’s no point to democracy when elections can be rigged.
The 2026 parliamentary elections will be a fateful one for Armenia. The approaching of that day is like a ticking time bomb. The elections will indeed be a choice between democracy or dictatorship. And with Pashinyan at the helm, I don’t believe for a second that the elections will be free, fair and transparent. In all certainty, he is planning in advance to secure a “win”. The ultimate test, the make or break situation, will be determined by the reaction of the Armenian people, if vote rigging takes place, and Pashinyan declares “victory” as a fait accompli in his quest to become a full dictator.
Go on a walk around Yerevan, Steve, and you’ll see exactly what I mean for yourself.
I have seen such villas, from the outside in and around Yerevan, such as in Nor Nork, Vahagni, and in Davtashen, where they are even grander. One cannot fail and notice them, especially when some of these are close to poor neighborhoods. Of course, when looking at those secluded and gated villas, the first thing that came to my mind is how their owners became rich. That many of them are civil servants and politicians, who with their official government salaries shouldn’t be able to afford them, as you pointed out, not to mention luxury cars and other luxury items, is appalling. That the Sargsyans, Kocharyans, Pashinyans, and many others, who all come from modest backgrounds, have obscenely enriched themselves with Armenian tax payers’ money and from the state coffers, and built themselves villas in Armenia, and bought villas abroad, where many of them also have bank accounts, is revolting. It is a disease which has infected Armenia, from top to bottom, hence why we still don’t see enough outrage from the ordinary people who struggle to make ends meet.
Maybe you can invite the Turks to come clean Armenia up?
Perhaps with a sense of back to the wall and not enjoying the largesse which Ukraine does maybe Armenia might tackle corruption better although some is inherent given the way of the world.
I APPRECIATE SIRANUSH SARGSYAN’S SENTIMENTS, BUT NOT HER REPORTING – She wrote that “in fall of 2021”, she met a French writer and journalist who had traveled to Yerevan and had attended the 30th anniversary of the Armenian Independence and was “shocked” seeing a “drone show”, where “different iterations of the same machines that had wrought such devastation now danced in coordinated patterns across the skies.” What she describes is pretty shocking indeed. It sure would have shocked me seeing the patterns of drones in the sky let alone dance to their rhythms. Since her report is politically charged, Siranus failed to mentioned that the French writer and journalist she met was an ethnic Armenian or not or say a Moroccan French. The Frech journalist she mentions could have been an ethnic Armenian French citizen, with whom she shared views.
Now let me refer to my American friend who was there too. He has absolutely no ethnic or formal social relationship with Armenians or any Armenian for that matter, other than his intellectual curiosity. He also is an amateur photographer and an accomplished amateur Armenian historian, history being not his profession. He is as odar, as an an odar can get. I quote his post on September 21, 2021: “Today is the 30th anniversary of Armenia’s independence from the Soviet Union, only the second time in modern history when Armenians had an independent country (after a brief 2.5-year period at the end of World War I). Three years ago, I photographed the Armenian Independence Day celebrations in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. It was one of my greatest street photography experiences and I was so excited that I shared these photos with basically every Armenian I knew. Today’s celebrations were very muted, as Armenians are still mourning their losses in the Second Karabakh War last fall. I have seen several Armenians suggest that forgoing a celebration was the right thing to do. It reminds me of an Armenian I know who is always saying that Armenians almost don’t know what it means to have their own country. They would rather mourn their past losses and feel pride about their ability to survive future losses, than to celebrate what they have now and do whatever is necessary to build a stronger country (thereby reducing their chances of future losses).”
He went on noting “I post these celebratory photos in honor of the Armenians who worked hard for their independence and who are committed to building a prosperous, stronger, and peaceful Armenia that fully realizes its independence.”
It is precisely for his last paragraph that I saved and archived his post in my blog. It warmed my heart.
I appreciate Siranush Sargsyan’s personլ sentiments, but not her reporting.
It is notable that you and the late President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, express similar feelings regarding the loss of 5,000 soldiers and the 10,000 who were disabled during the 44-day Artsakh war.
“For the sake of a strong Armenia and Artsakh we must be able to get out of the situation with our heads held high and our backs straight, albeit slowly, but move forward,” –Armen Sarkissian, President of Armenia
The author effectively illustrates how, instead of celebrating a 30-year anniversary, Armenians were in mourning. The loss of Artsakh’s sovereignty, formalized after the capitulation agreement by the Post-Soviet leadership, remains a major source of pain. Nikol Pashinyan’s statements in Brussels on October 6, 2022, made clear—before international witnesses like Charles Michel, Emmanuel Macron, and Ilham Aliev—that Nagorno-Karabakh is now officially considered part of Azerbaijan, which led to the eventual blockade in December 2022 that caused the suffocation of the region by non-other than the very culprits that waged and assisted the external war on Artsakh once again on September 19, 2023.
If you believe the 30th anniversary of Greater Armenia does not require a period of mourning, then I argue that Armenia cannot truly heal or hold accountable those responsible for this catastrophe. The path to overcoming this setback lies in national unity and leadership—unless, as has happened in other countries like Ukraine, Romania, and now Moldova, outside influence from the Collective West dictates will shape the outcome of the next elections.
Thank you for your comment. It is completely normal if you do not like my writings. What I don’t quite understand is how you decided that the writer I referred to must be a French-Armenian and not French, and who has been researching this issue for many years. If you are interested, I can share some of her articles on the use of drones, both in Artsakh and in other conflicts where Turkey has employed them.
I want to stress once again that the drone show took place the year after the war. Nowadays it may be easier and more acceptable to speak about drones, but back then, in Armenia including Artsakh, drones were directly associated with death—especially under those conditions when our skies were unprotected, and thousands of young men were killed before even reaching the battlefield.
I never said Independence Day should not be celebrated. My only question is why it had to be represented with a drone, and precisely at such a sensitive time. And yes, I believe I have every right to be sensitive about this. Neither you nor the photojournalist you mentioned has lost loved ones so directly to drones, or spoken with grieving families and mothers on such a regular basis.
I am not trying to start a debate. If you are curious, I can send her articles—she truly writes with skill, unlike me.
And there is single-for-life Charlie, typing away furiously on an Armenian website, superficially blaming all Armenia’s problems on Russia, never addressing anything with depth.
Charlie, the only thing you’ve exposed is why, as you have admitted, you’ve been single all your life, and that you’re a loser.
Boghos.
If I was to go in depth would be a bore. Besides I’ve had romances in my life so again you are being silly. It would be false to claim Russia is the source of all Armenia woes but this doesn’t alter the fact that soul searching is called for and there have been misplaced hopes and expectations and thus realism is better.
Obviously the defeat of 2020 was going to temper the mood for the 30 th anniversary of independence but the nation still has a right to commemorate.
Russia is horrible but relying on the US is proving crappy too (look at Qatar, etc). Armenia should therefore rely on Turkey, its old friend. We share more in common then anyone in the region. Yeah, yeah we are mongols and you guys have superior genes, etc Ive heard it all before. Maybe once Erdogan departs we can become friends, who knows.
@Turkish Friend From Australia
Nobody is interested in your “opinion”. You come here just to troll. Not in a million years will Armenia tie its security to the very nation who committed the Armenian Genocide (which you and your compatriots deny even happened), subjugated, oppressed and persecuted Armenians for eight centuries.
Turks conquered to subjugate, persecute, decimate and to plunder nations, just like your warlike ethnolinguistic relatives, the Mongols and the Huns. Just like the Mongols and the Huns, the perennially warlike Turks didn’t create and contribute to world civilization, they only brought destruction and civilizational regression. Turkish rule is for example the total antihesis of the civilizationally advanced and progressive Hapsburg rule, who brought Western civilization back, in the lands they retook from the Ottoman Turks, such as Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia and North Serbia. The Balkan nations were not lucky, because the Hapsburgs failed to rescue them from the Turkish yoke, and that is why the Balkan countries became under five centuries of destructive and civilizationally regressive Turkish Ottoman rule, the poorest and most backward countries in Europe. The difference between Kosovo, Albania, North Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria, which languished and regressed under the Turks, couldn’t be starker to that of Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia and North Serbia, which thrived and advanced under the Austrians. Two centuries of Russian rule also brought Western civilization to your fellow Turkic relatives, the Azeris and the nomadic Central Asians, who otherwise would have been as culturally backward and religious as Turks are. It is thanks to Russian and Soviet rule, that these Turkic countries are ahead of Turkey, in education, culture and in other fields, and are thorougly secularized. When it comes to genocidal urges, the Azeris and Turks are two faces on the same coin. Of course you will deny this, due to your delusion and vanity.
Turks like you are the unwanted and unwelcome intruders, everywhere, including in this comment section. Armenians rightly shun and avoid contact with Turks around the globe, like everyone should. Now shoo off.
Hear! Hear!
If Armenia had a man who set up a drone manufacturing firm and made a billion dollars and employed thousands of Armenians then he has the right – the absolute right to build a palace for himself in Yerevan, if that is what he wants – as he has hugely contributed to Armenia and created wealth.
If Armenia had 10 such billionaires, its economy would be stabilised.
If Armenia had 100 such billionaires, it would be an economic superpower.
Wealth creation should be the goal.
Of course, there is a huge difference between wealth creating billionaires who deserve their palaces and mansions and the corrupt who create nothing and act as parasites on Armenian society.
Corruption is a cancer and must be ruthlessly cut out.
Every government minister and civil servant must be hauled in front of a court and asked how they can afford their beauttiful and lavish homes.
Those who fail to provide convincing answers proving that they were able to afford their homes honestly, must be arrested and imprisoned.
Corrupt houses are easy to identify in Armenia as they are always the ones behind iron gates and gated communities.
That means that corruption can be very easily cut out from Armenia.
Of course, none of this will happen as long as Pashinyan is in power.
He must go, which is why it is so essential to win the June 2026 elections against him.
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