The Memorial Dedicated to the Victims of World War II Monument

The Memorial Dedicated to the Victims of World War II Monument 1969 y․

Azerbaijan / Northern Artsakh / Dashkesan / Banants

Great Patriotic War

Banants participated in World War II with 1,200 of its inhabitants, 600 of whom sacrificed their lives on the battle-field. In perpetuation of their memory, in 1969 a monument, designed by architects Rafayel Israyelian and Ara Harutiunian, was erected on a nearby elevation called ‘Dimats Tegh.’ It consisted of a finely-cut pillar and a pedestal, the former engraved with 5th-century Armenian historiographer Yeghishe’s well-known words, “Death not realized is death indeed, but death realized is immortality.” The latter bore an eagle with its wings outstretched as a symbol of valour and love for freedom. However, on 26 July 1969, i.e. two days before its solemn opening, the memorial fell prey to a criminal plot schemed by Suleymanov, First Secretary of Dashkesan District’s Committee of Azerbaijan’s Communist Party. A record states the following with this regard, “The entire village, imbued with the feeling of having somehow fulfilled its sacred duty towards its killed sons, was looking forward to the opening of the memorial with the uttermost excitement. The monument, covered with a piece of white cloth, was to open in two days, many guests having been invited from Yerevan, Moscow, Baku and other places. Alas, very soon Banants Armenians were to wish the dawn of the following day had not broken over their village. Hardly had the sinister darkness lifted from the village when unspeakable tumult permeated through the village and some ill news spread everywhere, shocking the local inhabitants like a bolt from the blue, ‘The monument has been destroyed!’ “Within several minutes, Dimats Tegh was overcrowded by a vast multitude of sleepy, panic-stricken people, and what should they see! Only the pillar of the memorial stood before their eyes, whereas the eagle had disappeared, its broken fragments lying near the pedestal... “...Soon Banants Armenians learnt what had really happened. On the order of Suleymanov, First Secretary of Dashkesan District’s Committee of Azerbaijan’s Communist Party, at 4 o’clock at night, the lights were turned off in the entire district. Taking advantage of the darkness, a group of villains stealthily slipped into the village, accompanied by a number of policemen, including the chief of police, the chairman of the local collective farm and the secretary of a party organization training and educating future Communists, Suleymanov himself heading the operation. ...Hardly feeling his way in the darkness, their chauffeur somehow managed to put the rope they had brought with them around the eagle’s neck and removed it by a crane. Suddenly, however, the rope cut off and the stone bird fell down: the bandits had not reckoned with the fact that the eagle weighed more than eight tons. Anyway, they somehow took it away.”

Grigorian, R. The Captured Eagle. In: "Khorhrdayin Hayastan," 27 October 1989, in Armenian. Iskenderov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijani SSR who pretended to be concerned about that formidable crime, declared to Banants Armenians that its perpetrators had been dismissed from work. He also added, “As for the monument, ... the Central Committee of Azerbaijan’s Communist Party has adopted a decision banning the erection of memorial eagles in the territory of the republic.” The issue being thus considered settled, the authorities of the country wilfully built a museum near the monument through state means. Instead of the eagle, some flags were placed on the pedestal, and a helmet on top of the column. One of the reasons for the destruction of the memorial is said to be the likeness between the eagle’s and prominent Armenian war-lord Andranik's eyes.
Karapetian, Samvel. Northern Artsakh, Yerevan, 2007, p. 139.