Yerkrapah
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name = Yerkrapah
| image = Yerkrapah logo.png
| image_size = 201
|dates = July 1993{{cite web|title=Համառոտ բնութագիր (Brief description)|url=http://www.yerkrapah.am/|publisher=Official site of Union of Yerkrapah Volunteers|access-date=23 March 2013|language=hy}}—present
|country = {{flag|Armenia}}
|allegiance =
|branch =
|type =
|role = Paramilitary
|command_structure=
|garrison =
|equipment =
|current_commander=Sasun Mikayelyan
|ceremonial_chief=
|colonel_of_the_regiment=
|notable_commanders=Vazgen Sargsyan
Manvel Grigoryan
|identification_symbol=
|identification_symbol_2=
|nickname =
|patron =
|motto =Defenders of the Land
|colors =
|march =
|mascot =
|battles = First Nagorno-Karabakh War
Four-Day War
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War[https://armenian.usc.edu/2020-wars-bloodiest-day-october-10/ 2020 War's Bloodiest Day: October 10]
|anniversaries =
|decorations =
|battle_honours =
}}
Yerkrapah Volunteer Union ({{langx|hy|«Երկրապահ» կամավորական միություն, ԵԿՄ}} «Yerkrapah» kamavorakan miut'yun, YeKM) or Yerkrapah Union of Veterans, meaning Defenders of the Land, is an Armenian non-governmental group that consisted of 6,000 veterans of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, formed by Vazgen Sargsyan.{{cite book|last=P. Croissant|first=Michael|title=The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict: causes and implications|year=1998|pages=123|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9780275962418|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZeP7OZZswtcC&q=Yerkrapah+Volunteer+Union&pg=PA123}} The Yerkrapah is a large and influential veteran group.{{cite web|title=Armenian War Veterans Divided Over 2008 Election|url=http://www.armtown.com/news/en/rfe/20071225/200712251/|publisher=Armtown|access-date=9 May 2012}} The Yerkrapah Union was actively involved in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, although after the death of Sargsyan, Yerkrapah's influence in Armenian politics began to decline.{{cite book|last=Lowell|first=Barrington|title=After Independence: Making and Protecting the Nation in Postcolonial & Postcommunist States|year=2006|publisher=University of Michigan Press|pages=241}} Yerkrapah had incorporated between 5,000 and 30,000 veterans.{{cite book|last=Levitsky|first=Steven|title=Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War|date=16 August 2010|pages=209|isbn=9781139491488|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NZDI05p1PDgC&q=Yerkrapah&pg=PA209}} According to Thomas de Waal, after 1994 "the veterans' group Yerkrapah became the most powerful organization in the country."{{cite book|last=De Waal|first=Thomas|title=Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War|year=2003|pages=244|isbn=9780814719459|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pletup86PMQC&q=yerkrapah&pg=PA244}}
Military operations
Yerkrapah serves as part the reserve of the army.{{Cite web|url=https://armenpress.am/eng/news/841818|title = "Yerkrapah" and other volunteer regiments ready to head to frontline}} It sent thousands of armed volunteers fight during the April War of 2016,{{Cite web|date=2018-07-12|title=The Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers at a Crossroads|url=https://armenian.usc.edu/the-yerkrapah-union-of-volunteers-at-a-crossroads/|access-date=2021-04-23|website=USC Institute of Armenian Studies|language=en-US}} as well as the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020.
Political involvement
By 1998, the Yerkrapah parliamentary faction, led by Vazgen Sargsyan as "the power behind the throne",{{cite web|last=Carley|first=Patricia|date=December 1998|title=Nagorno-Karabakh: Searching for a Solution|url=http://www.usip.org/publications/nagorno-karabakh-searching-solution-0|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615202540/http://www.usip.org/publications/nagorno-karabakh-searching-solution-0|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 June 2013|access-date=21 April 2013|publisher=United States Institute of Peace}} was the largest faction in the National Assembly (it had 69 members).{{cite news|last=Fuller|first=Liz|date=12 May 1998|title=Caucasus Report: May 12, 1998|agency=RFE/RL|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1342035.html|access-date=11 April 2013}}{{cite book|last=Astourian|first=Stephan H.|title=From Ter-Petrosian to Kocharian: Leadership Change in Armenia|url=http://iseees.berkeley.edu/bps/publications/2000_04-asto.pdf|publisher=University of California, Berkeley|access-date=11 January 2013|year=2001|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620084455/http://iseees.berkeley.edu/bps/publications/2000_04-asto.pdf|archive-date=20 June 2013 |pages=57–58}} The faction was made up of members of the union. That summer, merged with the Republican Party of Armenia,{{cite book|last=Panossian|first=Razmik|url=https://archive.org/details/armeniansfromkin00razm|title=The Armenians: From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2006|isbn=9780231511339|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/armeniansfromkin00razm/page/326 326]|author-link=Razmik Panossian|url-access=registration}} absorbing the much smaller party in name and legal status.{{cite news|date=22 July 1998|title=Yerkrapah turns into political party|publisher=The Jamestown Foundation|url=http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=16730&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=212|url-status=dead|access-date=21 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140619030205/http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=16730&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=212|archive-date=19 June 2014}}{{cite web|title=History of the Party|url=http://www.hhk.am/en/history/|access-date=6 May 2013|publisher=The Republican Party of Armenia}} Yerkrapah as a political movement lost their nominal political influence by 2001.{{cite book|last1=Hughes|first1=James R.|last2=Sasse|first2=Gwendolyn|title=Ethnicity and territory in the former Soviet Union: regions in conflict|year=2002|publisher=Frank Cass|location=London|edition=1st|isbn=978-0-7146-8210-5 |page=155}}
On 25 February 2008, a cohort of top army leaders led by the then-Chief of the General Staff Seyran Ohanyan left the Yerkrapah Union, protesting against its involvement in politics. The move came after the deputy chairman Myasnik Malkhasyan and some other members gave their backing to ex-president Levon Ter-Petrosyan in the protests following the disputed 2008 Armenian presidential election.{{Cite web|url=https://armenpress.am/eng/amp/522136|title=Top Army Officers Quit Yerkrapah Union}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=28 October 2019|title=Կարևոր վկան պետք է չեզոքացվի. գեներալ Մանվել Գրիգորյանի առեղծվածը|url=https://www.yerkir.am/news/view/185437.html|access-date=6 June 2021|website=www.yerkir.am|language=hy}} Then-Yerkrapah chairman and deputy defense minister Manvel Grigoryan also supposedly met with Ter-Petrosyan, who claimed that he had Grigoryan's support.
In 2019, Chairman Sasun Mikayelyan insisted that the organization shall not serve as an 'appendage" of the ruling party, warning of consequences of what happened when the previous governments "tried to make Yerkrapah serve the authorities".{{Cite web|url=https://www.azatutyun.am/amp/29868645.html|title=Armenian War Veterans Pick New Pro-Government Leader}}
Youth wing
On 9 September 2014, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Education and Science, and Yerkrapah signed a memorandum to implement "Patani Yerkrapah" (Youth Protectors of the Land) patriotic clubs in Armenian educational institutions. Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan, stressed the importance of the clubs in contributing to youths' knowledge of Armenian history.{{cite web |title=Armenian Schools to Have Patriotic Clubs |url=https://www.civilnet.am/news/149138/armenian-schools-to-have-patriotic-clubs/ |access-date=25 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422182510/https://www.civilnet.am/news/149138/armenian-schools-to-have-patriotic-clubs/ |archive-date=April 22, 2021 |language=en, hy, ru |date=September 9, 2014}}
Yerkrapah Day
Yerkrapah Day (Armenian: Երկրապահի օր) is a professional holiday for all members of Yerkrapah,[http://www.newsarmenia.ru/arm1/20080508/41873597.html Новости — Армения] celebrated annually in Armenia on 8 May.{{cite web|title=В Армении отмечают день "Еркрапа"|url=https://regnum.ru/news/636613.html|date=2006-05-08|publisher=Regnum|language=ru|access-date=2010-08-13}} The official status of Yerkrapah Day holiday was conceived after the entry of a law which President Robert Kocharyan signed on 6 January 2001 and which the Parliament of Armenia approved on 24 July that year.[http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=1274&lang=rus Legislation: National Assembly of RA] It is associated with Shushi Liberation Day.[http://www.calend.ru/holidays/0/0/1986/ День Еркрапа в Армении — 8 мая. История и особенности праздника в проекте Календарь Праздников 2010] Yerkrapah Day is not a non-working day if, depending on the year, it does not fall on a weekend.
Chairmen
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://ekm.am Official Site of Union of Yerkrapah Volunteers]
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
Category:Armenian militant groups