Yerkrapah

Yerkrapah
ActiveJuly 1993[1]—present
Country Armenia
RoleParamilitary
Size5,000-30,000[2]
Motto(s)Defenders of the Land
EngagementsFirst Nagorno-Karabakh War
Four-Day War[3]
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War[4]
Commanders
Current
commander		Sasun Mikayelyan
Notable
commanders		Vazgen Sargsyan
Manvel Grigoryan

Yerkrapah Volunteer Union (Armenian: «Երկրապահ» կամավորական միություն, ԵԿՄ «Yerkrapah» kamavorakan miut'yun, YeKM) or Yerkrapah Union of Veterans, meaning Defenders of the Land, is an Armenian non-governmental group that consisted of 6,000 veterans of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, formed by Vazgen Sargsyan.[5] The Yerkrapah is a large and influential veteran group.[6] The Yerkrapah Union was actively involved in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, although after the death of Sargsyan, Yerkrapah's influence in Armenian politics began to decline.[7] Yerkrapah had incorporated between 5,000 and 30,000 veterans.[2] According to Thomas de Waal, after 1994 "the veterans' group Yerkrapah became the most powerful organization in the country."[8]

  1. ^ "Համառոտ բնութագիր (Brief description)" (in Armenian). Official site of Union of Yerkrapah Volunteers. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  2. ^ a b Levitsky, Steven (16 August 2010). Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War. p. 209. ISBN 9781139491488.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference crossroads was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ 2020 War's Bloodiest Day: October 10
  5. ^ P. Croissant, Michael (1998). The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict: causes and implications. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 123. ISBN 9780275962418.
  6. ^ "Armenian War Veterans Divided Over 2008 Election". Armtown. Retrieved 9 May 2012.
  7. ^ Lowell, Barrington (2006). After Independence: Making and Protecting the Nation in Postcolonial & Postcommunist States. University of Michigan Press. p. 241.
  8. ^ De Waal, Thomas (2003). Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. p. 244. ISBN 9780814719459.