Documentation for Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers
Jan. 1, 1995
State Department Report
About 40 paramilitary troops equipped with guns ...broke up the meeting and beat some of the
protesters...they belonged to "Yerkrapah," a veterans' organization which reportedly is affiliated with government security agencies. Some opposition protesters were arrested by militia
troops.
In April paramilitary troops reportedly belonging to the Yerkrapah
veterans' organization, whose actions reportedly were cleared by high-
level government officials, staged a series of attacks against members
of a dozen nonapostolic religious groups. ... paramilitary troops wielding iron pipes and guns, pastors and adherents were beaten and kidnaped, and offices were ransacked and equipment stolen. ...
the commandant told the detainees that it was because of their religious beliefs. The attacks were tacitly abetted by months of articles critical of the groups in both the official and nonofficial press.
Jan. 1, 1996
State Department Report
Despite the Government's pledge to apprehend those who staged a series of attacks against a dozen nonapostolic religious groups in 1995, the authorities have made no arrests. No attacks were reported in 1996.
Jan. 1, 1997
State Department Report
In July members of a local "Yerkrapah" group (an armed veteran's militia that is part of the Defense Ministry implicated in 1995 and 1996 human rights violations) broke into a human rights library in Vanadzor and removed the contents (see Section 1.f.).
Although the dispute was primarily over control of the space rather than the activities of the center, and the center was subsequently promised new quarters elsewhere, the incident underscored the freedom of these local militias to act outside the law--in this case against a human rights organization. No action was taken against the persons responsible
Jan. 1, 1998
State Department Report
On March 8, persons alleged to be associated with the Yerkrapah faction violently broke up an election rally in Ararat by the National Democratic Union (NDU). Eight NDU members were hospitalized as a result of the attack, including Filaret Berikyan, the NDU representative to the Central Election Committee. The police chief of Ararat was fired for failure to maintain order. Four of the alleged attackers were arrested, convicted, and sentenced in June by the Ararat court to 2 years in prison for interfering in the electoral process. The sentence was suspended and the four were placed on probation.
April 18, 1998
The Guardian
In the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh violent intimidation of minority religious groups by Yerkrapah, a shady organisation of war veterans, goes unpunished.
Jan. 1, 1999
State Department Report
On December 25, the Russian newspaper Novoye Vremya had reprinted an article originally published in the Russian press accusing the late Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian of corruption. Novoye Vermya's editor subsequently reportedly received a threatening telephone call purporting to be from the Yerkrapah Union, a social/political faction of veterans of the Nagorno-Karabakh war founded by Sargsian. The caller warned the editor that if his paper continued to "insult" the slain Prime Minister, his house would be burned.
Despite the Government's previous pledge to apprehend alleged members of the Yerkrapah Union political faction who staged a series of destructive attacks against a dozen religious groups in 1995, the authorities still had taken no steps to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Oct. 29, 1999
The Independent (London
He also controlled his own private army of Karabakh veterans, the Yerkrapah (Defenders of the Homeland). After the 1994 Karabakh ceasefire he unleashed them on people he disliked within Armenia. In April 1995 he appeared on television to ask people to inform the authorities of the whereabouts of "sectarians". The following month a coordinated series of raids saw Protestant, Hare Krishna and Bahai meeting places attacked and many believers beaten.
Sarkissian told a Yerkrapah congress the following December that they had saved the country from the "plague of religious sects". In 1995 Yerkrapah members trashed a human rights library in the town of Vanadzor, a further reflection of Sarkissian's contempt for pluralism and democracy.
Oct. 29, 1999
The Independent (London)
SARKISSIAN...appointment as defence minister in 1995.... It was his close friendship with Russian defence minister .. that ensured the supply of millions of dollars of Russian military supplies .. He was happy for Russia to retain well -equipped military bases in Armenia...He also controlled his own private army of Karabakh veterans, the Yerkrapah (Defenders of the Homeland). After the 1994 Karabakh ceasefire he unleashed them on people he disliked within Armenia. In April 1995 he appeared on television to ask people to inform the authorities of the whereabouts of "sectarians". The following month a coordinated series of raids saw Protestant, Hare Krishna and Bahai meeting places attacked and many believers beaten.
Sarkissian told a Yerkrapah congress the following December that they had saved the country from the "plague of religious sects". In 1995 Yerkrapah members trashed a human rights library in the town of Vanadzor, A..the Yerkrapah parliamentary faction loyal to Sarkissian built up its strength. At the end of 1997, as Ter -Petrosian planned to make concessions to Azerbaijan over Karabakh, Sarkissian and a number of key colleagues, including the prime minister, Robert Kocharian, jumped ship. Ter -Petrosian was forced to resign in February 1998.
Sept. 27, 2000
IPR Strategic Business Information Database
founded earlier this year as a counterpart to the pro-government Yerkrapah Union of veterans of the Karabakh
Feb. 23, 2008
BBC Monitoring Trans Caucasus Unit
Ter-Petrosyan's supporters are protesting against the results of the presidential election, according to which Ter-Petrosyan gained about 21 per cent of votes and Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan about 51.7 per cent. The deputy chairman of the Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers, Miasnik Malkhasyan, announced that all Yerkrapah members and suicide attackers [as written], volunteer fighters and volunteer veterans have joined Ter-Petrosyan's movement under one single banner.
Feb. 28, 2008
BBC Monitoring Trans Caucasus Unit
Sargsyan agreed with the MP that very big efforts should be made to eliminate the legal illiteracy of officials and MPs, which is a big problem, and called upon MPs to take part in this works. He said that he does not understand the division between an MP, a public figure and a citizen of the Republic of Armenia. "All citizens of the Republic of Armenia are equal for me. Illegal arms are illegal arms - whether they belong to an MP, a political figure, a member of the [paramilitary] Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers, or an ordinary citizen. Illegal arms have always been confiscated, and now [confiscation] is growing in scale, and I promise you that we must totally eliminate the availability of illegal arms in this country."
June 13, 2008
BBC Monitoring Trans Caucasus Unit
The word "yerkrapah", made up artificially in the early 1990s, is literally translated as "country defender" or "country keeper".]
June 13, 2008
BBC Monitoring Trans Caucasus Unit
The leader of the Gyumri branch of the Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers, Ashot Zakaryan; the leader of the Democratic Motherland party, Petros Makeyan; and a proxy of Armenia's first President and presidential candidate in the 19 February presidential election Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Shota Saghatelyan, have been charged with applying violence to hinder the activity of the electoral commission No34/06 during the election. (…) The supporters were not intimidated, but rather in fury and included representatives of the Women for Peace NGO, who arrived from the capital Yerevan and local members of the Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers, a paramilitary organization, many members of which were arrested in the wake of the post-election unrest.
Sept. 12, 2014
BBC Monitoring Trans Caucasus Unit
The Ministry of Emergencies and the Yerkrapah Union of Volunteers (YUV) paramilitary organisation signed a memorandum of cooperation in Yerevan today. Representatives of the YUV attended drills of the fire-fighters' brigade of the ministry and a teleconference of the ministry's fire-fighters' brigades from across Armenia. The Armenian army is well capable of protecting the country's borders, Gen Manvel Grigoryan, the head of the YUV, told participants in the meeting with the employees of the ministry.
Sept. 2, 2016
Wikipedia. "Yerkrapah".
Yerkrapah had incorporated between 5,000 and 30,000 veterans
