YERAPLOUR PANTHEON CEMETERY

This cemetery, where the 'national heroes' are buried, illustrates the transition from the black pages of the genocide to the glorious and painful pages of the 'war of liberation of Nagorno-Karabakh'. Among the "freedom fighters" (Azadamardig or fédahis) resting in this pantheon is Monté Melkonian, an activist with an "exemplary" record for the Armenian collective conscience. This Lebanese Armenian living in the United States, who was imprisoned in France in the 1980s for having been a member of ASALA, an Armenian terrorist organisation that campaigned in particular for the recognition of the genocide, joined the Karabagh fighters at the very beginning of the war against Azerbaijan and was promoted to commander. The career of this 'militant of the Armenian cause' ended in 1993, on the side of a road in Karabagh, where he died in troubled circumstances. Other Fedahis, such as Prime Minister Vasken Sarksian, who had distinguished himself in Karabagh and who was one of the victims of the October 1999 massacre in the Parliament, are buried in this pantheon, where the remains of heroes of the war against the Turks at the beginning of the 20th century were repatriated in the 2000s, such as General Andranik, who until then had been buried in Père-Lachaise in Paris. Unfortunately, since the Karabakh war of 2020, which left more than 3,000 dead in the Armenian ranks, there are many more graves before which the political and religious authorities pay their respects during official ceremonies.