We Are Giving Up Territory, Not Lives, We Agree with This, But It Should Be the Other Way Around: Archbishop of Shirak

“We have lost 300,000 lives in the Great Patriotic War, just as many in World War I: 300,000 lives of young people aged 18-20-25. How has this nation digested those 300,000 losses, when now it cannot process 5,000? And now, when we talk about war, everyone is horrified. We should not be afraid of war; we are currently in a war. But this is a war without casualties. We are giving up territory, not lives. But it should be the other way around,” said Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, the Primate of the Shirak Diocese, during a discussion he organized.

“In our thinking, war means giving up lives; this is the greatest misconception. Wars are fought to seize and hold territory, regardless of casualties. For Armenians, everything is completely different: saving 30,000 is heroic, even if they haven’t actually saved them—a different matter. For Armenians, everything is wrong: the victory is wrong, the defeat is wrong, the understanding of the state is wrong, the church is wrong; it doesn’t understand or recognize its church, doesn’t love its church or itself. Therefore, the objective reality is terribly dire, Armenians. I am a pessimist because I have worked among this people for 40 years, and we have registered only 0.4% success.

Yes, our fate was different; we should have been the strongest country in this region. This geography was granted, with 300,000 square kilometers of natural fortress. But will a native nation that has lived here for 4,500 years have 30,000 square kilometers, and still question whether it does or doesn’t?” he stated.