Armenian capitulator's family blames army for his defection

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Allegations that the reason for Armenian soldier’s voluntary surrender to the Azerbaijani troops was his troubles with his family were reduced to rubbles after the conscript's family clarified the motives behind the scandalous event.

Ararat Grigoryan, capitulator soldier Andranik Girgoryan's father, said that his son had been tortured in the military unit where he served.

Grigoryan voluntarily surrendered to the Azerbaijani troops on March 22 raising a white flag along the line of contact. Grigoryan explained his move as an effort to save his life, as he noted that he could no longer contemplate another day in the Armenian armed forces since it meant dying a senseless death, defending a government which cares not for its people.

Armenian Defense Minister, Seyran Ohanyan refused all allegations about disorder in military units, putting the blame on Grigoryan's family for triggering the soldier's surrender.

Grigoryan senior, turned down all claims blaming his son for defecting from the armed forces namely due to internal family problems.

"There was a girl my son wanted to marry. I said we couldn't accept her as she had graduated from university when my son did not. That was the only quarrel we had. He left the army angered and confused due to the constant torture his comrades put on him," he noted.

Grigoryan's mother, Nelly Grigoryan supported her husbands' words saying the family trouble could not possibly be used as the motivation behind her son's capitulation to Azerbaijan's army.

In a video interrogation by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on April 1, Grigoryan junior said he was very badly treated in the military unit in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which led him to cross onto Azerbaijan.

Although ten days have passed since Grigoryan's surrender, his address in the video clearly shows that he prefers to remain in Azerbaijan's custody rather than serve the Armenian military forces.

On March 26, the Armenian police arrested Ararat Grigoryan and took him into police custody for interrogation. The move reportedly came four days after the conscript's voluntary capitulation to the Azerbaijani forces on the line of contact on March 22 took place.

Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh territory was turned into a battlefield and zone of aggravated tensions after Armenia sent its troops to occupy Azerbaijan's lands in the 1990s. As a result, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory stands under military occupation. For the past two decades, and despite calls from the international community, Armenia has refused to withdraw its troops and retreat within its national borders.