Moscow City Duma member reacts to Armenian history book

ArmInfo.Russian journalist and Moscow City Duma deputy Andrei Medvedev responded to new interpretations of the history of the Armenian people in the updated textbook on the History of Armenia for the 8th grade, where Russia is presented as an occupier.

"I read a post that according to the new Armenian textbooks, Russia annexed Armenia. That is, the Russian-Persian wars, after which the Armenians were able to preserve their identity, is an annexation. I did not believe it.

I am writing to an old friend, he is a heroic war correspondent of the First Chechen War, then Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans. Now Vadim is the director of the Russian House in Armenia. I ask, is it true that they write such things in textbooks now," Medvedev noted.

He then quoted Vadim Fefilov's words in full.

"Vadim replied: "You know, we, that is, Rossotrudnichestvo in Armenia, purposefully take Yerevan schoolchildren on excursion buses to the wonderful state museum of Armenian-Russian friendship in the suburbs of the capital.

"Yes, I know how it all really was!" a tall guy from the Yerevan school named after Shevchenko told the museum director and me. "In 1828, the Armenian state provided a corridor for the passage of the Russian army and the Russians treacherously captured Armenia, essentially occupying us."

The director of the museum, Zhora Mambreevich Hakobyan, even stumbled; he was just telling the children about the capture of the Erivan fortress by the Russian corps of Count Paskevich and about the Treaty of Turkmenchay, according to which the Persians pledged not to interfere with the return of Armenians (with their property) to their historical lands.

So, are we occupiers? - I ask the child prodigy from the Shevchenko School.

"Well, sort of." I asked the boy and his classmates to go to another wall of the museum, to the portraits of Armenian heroes of the Russian army.

"Here is Prince Valerian Madatov, an Armenian born in Nagorno-Karabakh. He became a general, a hero of the Russo-Turkish War. And here is a portrait of the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire, the Tiflis Armenian Mikhail Loris-Melikov, also a general and ataman of the Terek Cossacks, and there are also portraits of Russian generals - ethnic Armenians Ter-Gukasov, Argutinsky-Dolgorukov and many others": The young man listens without interrupting. I ask him a question:


-    So, were all these Armenians with orders and epaulettes occupiers? Since they are generals of the Russian Empire. And who did they occupy then?

The boy didn't answer, frowned, digesting. It was literally just recently.

Why did I remember this? Yes, to your question. I was not very surprised by the news about the new history textbooks, where Russia's role in the restoration of the statehood of Armenia is distorted beyond recognition."

That's how it is. Colonel Karyagin's campaign, then, was the beginning of the annexation. The Battle of Aslanduz is also an annexation. The Russians are to blame for everything.

Well, that's what it was all leading to. What to do with Marshal Baghramyan is absolutely unclear. Is he also an occupier or what? Or just a pro-Russian collaborator?" Medvedev asked.

Yesterday, another scandal erupted in the Armenian segment of social networks, related to the new interpretation of the history of the Armenian people according to the current authorities of the country.  Photos from the page of the 8th grade textbook on the History of Armenia, where the chapter dedicated to the Russian-Persian War is titled "Russian occupation of Eastern Armenia", have spread across the network.