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STALIN'S MAN MIKOYAN TO GET STATUE IN YEREVAN
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #736
May 29 2014
Critics of the monument recall Stalinist purges of the 1930s.
By Yekaterina Poghosyan - Caucasus
Anastas Mikoyan may have been Armenia's most famous Soviet-era
politician, but plans to put up a statue to him in central Yerevan
have taken many people aback.
As a loyal servant to Joseph Stalin, Mikoyan is seen as complicit in
the deaths of many of his own countrymen.
Yerevan city council approved plans for the statue on April 30,
saying that Mikoyan should be honoured for his contribution to the
history of Armenia.
Fans of Mikoyan point to his political longevity. He served under every
Soviet leader from Vladimir Lenin to Leonid Brezhnev, and acted as
envoy to the United States during the toughest years of the Cold War.
"The descendants and relatives of Mikoyan asked the city to accede to
their wish to erect a monument to him in Yerevan, which is what we've
done," said Naira Nahapetyan, a city councillor from President Serzh
Sargsyan's Republican Party. "We also took into account Mikoyan's
major contribution to developing industry in the country, and towards
resolving the [Cuban missile] crisis.
"We should leave debatable details in his biography to the historians."
Others, however, say Mikoyan's record under Stalin is more than a
matter of detail. In 1937, Stalin dispatched him to Yerevan to purge
the local Communist Party.
Amatuni Virabyan, director of Armenia's National Archive, told IWPR
that Mikoyan's personal role in the 1937 purge was documented.
He said Russian archives contained a telegram which Mikoyan sent to
Stalin's secret police chief Nikolai Yezhov saying that 500 arrests in
Armenia were not enough, and asking for another 700 names to be added
to the list. Yezhov then wrote to Stalin suggesting an extra 1,500.
"I'm personally opposed to this statue, as I think that the people
who went through 1937 should be left in peace," Virabyan said. "Let
a future generation decide whether there should be a monument or not."
Other critics of the planned statue warn that honouring a hard-line
authoritarian politician may reflect a worrying trend in modern
Armenian politics. Last year, the government reversed plans to sign
an association agreement with the European Union and committed itself
instead to the Moscow-led Customs Union bloc.
"Given the kind of policies that Armenia is currently pursuing,
it's logical to erect a monument to this kind of man," said Armen
Martirosyan, an opposition politician on Yerevan city council. "It
forms part of the ideology and policy being followed here, and it is
testimony to the Armenian government's abandonment of our sovereignty."
Husik Ara, a writer and columnist, agreed that the symbolism was
significant.
"One has to ask why the idea of erecting a statue of such a man has
come up at the precise moment when Armenia intends to join the Customs
Union," he said. "Why erect a monument to a man who in Moscow was a
symbol of brute force?"
Ara said the authorities should conduct a poll of Yerevan's residents
before imposing the monument on them.
At a May 8 meeting of the city council's culture, education and social
affairs committee, council chair Tamara Poghosyan said the decision
could not be reversed as it had been passed by members, but hinted
that it might not be acted on.
"In the plan which the municipality proposed to the city council,
there wasn't a single word about the repressions," Poghosyan, a member
of the Prosperous Armenia party. "As members of the city council,
we approved the erection of a monument, but this doesn't mean it will
be put up tomorrow. The government will decide that."
Hrach Poghosyan, an architect and a former city councillor, warned
that if the statue was put up, it might not last long.
"Don't forget the fate of statues of Lenin and Stalin. We've had bitter
experience of these statues," he said. "Statues of people like that
have been taken down as public opinion and circumstances change."
Yekaterina Poghosyan is a reporter for the Mediamax news agency
in Armenia.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/stalins-man-mikoyan-get-statue-yerevan
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #736
May 29 2014
Critics of the monument recall Stalinist purges of the 1930s.
By Yekaterina Poghosyan - Caucasus
Anastas Mikoyan may have been Armenia's most famous Soviet-era
politician, but plans to put up a statue to him in central Yerevan
have taken many people aback.
As a loyal servant to Joseph Stalin, Mikoyan is seen as complicit in
the deaths of many of his own countrymen.
Yerevan city council approved plans for the statue on April 30,
saying that Mikoyan should be honoured for his contribution to the
history of Armenia.
Fans of Mikoyan point to his political longevity. He served under every
Soviet leader from Vladimir Lenin to Leonid Brezhnev, and acted as
envoy to the United States during the toughest years of the Cold War.
"The descendants and relatives of Mikoyan asked the city to accede to
their wish to erect a monument to him in Yerevan, which is what we've
done," said Naira Nahapetyan, a city councillor from President Serzh
Sargsyan's Republican Party. "We also took into account Mikoyan's
major contribution to developing industry in the country, and towards
resolving the [Cuban missile] crisis.
"We should leave debatable details in his biography to the historians."
Others, however, say Mikoyan's record under Stalin is more than a
matter of detail. In 1937, Stalin dispatched him to Yerevan to purge
the local Communist Party.
Amatuni Virabyan, director of Armenia's National Archive, told IWPR
that Mikoyan's personal role in the 1937 purge was documented.
He said Russian archives contained a telegram which Mikoyan sent to
Stalin's secret police chief Nikolai Yezhov saying that 500 arrests in
Armenia were not enough, and asking for another 700 names to be added
to the list. Yezhov then wrote to Stalin suggesting an extra 1,500.
"I'm personally opposed to this statue, as I think that the people
who went through 1937 should be left in peace," Virabyan said. "Let
a future generation decide whether there should be a monument or not."
Other critics of the planned statue warn that honouring a hard-line
authoritarian politician may reflect a worrying trend in modern
Armenian politics. Last year, the government reversed plans to sign
an association agreement with the European Union and committed itself
instead to the Moscow-led Customs Union bloc.
"Given the kind of policies that Armenia is currently pursuing,
it's logical to erect a monument to this kind of man," said Armen
Martirosyan, an opposition politician on Yerevan city council. "It
forms part of the ideology and policy being followed here, and it is
testimony to the Armenian government's abandonment of our sovereignty."
Husik Ara, a writer and columnist, agreed that the symbolism was
significant.
"One has to ask why the idea of erecting a statue of such a man has
come up at the precise moment when Armenia intends to join the Customs
Union," he said. "Why erect a monument to a man who in Moscow was a
symbol of brute force?"
Ara said the authorities should conduct a poll of Yerevan's residents
before imposing the monument on them.
At a May 8 meeting of the city council's culture, education and social
affairs committee, council chair Tamara Poghosyan said the decision
could not be reversed as it had been passed by members, but hinted
that it might not be acted on.
"In the plan which the municipality proposed to the city council,
there wasn't a single word about the repressions," Poghosyan, a member
of the Prosperous Armenia party. "As members of the city council,
we approved the erection of a monument, but this doesn't mean it will
be put up tomorrow. The government will decide that."
Hrach Poghosyan, an architect and a former city councillor, warned
that if the statue was put up, it might not last long.
"Don't forget the fate of statues of Lenin and Stalin. We've had bitter
experience of these statues," he said. "Statues of people like that
have been taken down as public opinion and circumstances change."
Yekaterina Poghosyan is a reporter for the Mediamax news agency
in Armenia.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/stalins-man-mikoyan-get-statue-yerevan