Mayor DiNatale proclaims support for Armenia
Deadly clash claims life of soldier with city ties
OITDUCURS » After a deadly clash between Azerbaijani and Armenian groups in Artsakh claimed the lives of numerous Armenians, including a soldier with ties to the city, Mayor Stephen DiNatale issued a proclamation calling for peace.
“We salute the Armenians of Artsakh,” DiNatale said on Monday, during a School Committee meeting.
“The city of Fitchburg stands with you and we see your sorrow. I know that we will continue to stand for peace,” the mayor emphasized.
School Committee member
Sally Cragin, who’s Armenian herself, said a family friend recently lost their son in the conflict.
On Oct. 14, the Defense Ministry of Artsakh released the names of 23 servicemen who were killed in battle, which included 21-year-old Grigor Tagvoryan.
Tagvoryan, described as a gifted gymnast and wrestler, was born in 1999 and grew up in Gyumri, Armenia. His father, Vahe, helped Cragin’s family build a home in the past two years.
“We knew that Grigor was at the front and we were just hoping that he would be able to survive,” Cragin said. “Later getting
the news that he, and everyone in his platoon, had died was a terrible familiar feeling.”
The familiar feeling was the Armenian Genocide, which took place between 1914 and 1923.
Cragin’s grandfather, Krikor Mirijanian, was a survivor of the genocide, and she said the stories of the tragedy are “knitted into the flesh” of all Armenians.
“Armenians have an amazing culture, and it’s a culture that has been met with repeated attempts to exterminate,” she said. “We’re seeing that again now.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been engaged in a decade-long conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, located in south-eastern Europe. The issue revolves around the mostly Armenian population living in the province which is within the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan.
The conflict primarily rests on the way the countries emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Nagorno-Karabakh subsequently declared its independence, which led to a war that is estimated to have killed 30,000 people and left the province within Azerbaijan, reports said.
A ceasefire was declared at the time, but a peace treaty was never agreed upon.
The conflict, which was renewed at the end of September, has drawn in the likes of Turkey on the side of Azerbaijan and Russia on the side of Armenia. And, according to reports, casualties on the front line have been severe.
As of Oct. 18, according to Armenian officials, more than 700 Armenian soldiers have been killed, along with numerous civilians on both sides.
Azerbaijan has not been disclosing its military death toll.
The mayor said there has been a striking lack of coverage by U.S. news media on the “ongoing slaughter of innocent children, families, seniors.”
“We need to be getting this information out,” Cragin said.
In his remarks, he also condemned the bombings of churches and hospitals by Azerbaijan early this month in Stepanakert, the main city in NagornoKarabakh.