On 28 September, in the House of Culture of Vedi city an exhibition of Gobelin works made by the family members of Missing persons as a result of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict took place. 36 works were presented including portraits of Missing persons. The wives of 8 Missing persons have made the works.
Representatives of Vedi Municipality and school staff, also ARCS and ICRC representatives attended the event. Before the start Missing persons’ family members visited the park near the Vedi city House of Culture and set a wreath and flowers at the Memorial, in memory of their missing relatives.
Women studied gobelin in just three months, they aim to open exhibition in Yerevan also, and they also intend to learn to paint, in order not to ask someone else to do it for them. The exhibition date was not chosen randomly, on 28 September 8 members of Arabo detachment gone missing. Every year on this day the relatives of missing persons organize some events in the memory of their missing family members.
Zemfira Malkhasyan, President of ARCS Vedi territorial branch, welcomed the guests, noting:
- ARCS has always been close to these families and tried to be helpful in solving problems. Congratulations on such a great event. Your family members are no longer with us; but they are everywhere, they are still with us, they will never be forgotten, and our new generation will grow up with their spirit.
Samvel Hunanyan, Head of ARCS Tracing Department added, that in the works one can see the emotions and feelings people express there:
- “We are grateful to all the participants and teachers. This was a very good start; I congratulate you all and wish you success”.
Representative of Vedi Municipality also delivered a speech mentioning:
- “We are delighted to see these works. I wish that there would never be a missing person in any Armenian family and there would never be a victim of gunfire. I bow to all the missing and deceased freedom fighters and last fallen soldier. The community has always supported and helped these families as much as it could”.
Karine Tovmasyan, the wife of missing Avetiq Tovmasyan and mother of 5 children, was participating in the exhibition with het 4 works:
- “I have been working on these gobelins with great enthusiasm. The Portrait was very difficult to work with, at the beginning we did not agree with this, we had doubts, it was difficult, I tried to hide the portrait with my hands, I could not look in the eyes, I finished it with trembling. It was very difficult to try to collect his picture after so many years; I have no words to say. As for the exhibition we are very pleased, we want to work on the paintings we have chosen. Everyone says the works look very nice.
As a result of Karabakh conflict 4541 missing persons applications have been registered in ICRC offices, 400 applications have been registered in Armenia. Even decades later, the families of missing Persons (FMP) have some economic, legal, psychological and/or social needs.
Armenian Red Cross Society with the support of International Committee of Red Cross, from 2011 till now, implements “Accompanying Families of Missing Persons” project. Meetings with the specialists from Health, Social, Legal spheres were organized for the beneficiary families as well as cultural events and trainings. Meetings and events in the RA regions are being implemented through ARCS Regional and Territorial Branches.
