Armenia’s Daredevils
A group of war veterans who stormed a police station in Armenia call themselves the Daredevils of Sassoun, inspired by an 8th century poem, but are they heroes or terrorists?
In July, veterans from Armenia's war with neighbouring Azerbaijan in the 1990s stormed a police station killing one policeman and taking several hostage. The men called themselves the Daredevils of Sassoun, after one of Armenia's most popular epic poems. One of the reasons the gunmen gave for their actions was the loss of hard-won territory around the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh this April.
The two-week long stand-off between security forces and the Daredevils sparked a wave of anti-government protests. Rayhan Demytrie looks at the reawakening of patriotism among Armenians angered by government corruption and its inability to end the conflict with Azerbaijan. What made these men, described by the authorities as terrorists, resort to such radical means, and why do so many Armenians still consider them heroes?
(Picture credit: BBC)
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The mythology behind Armenia’s Daredevils
Duration: 02:48
Broadcasts
- Thu 20 Oct 201604:32GMTBBC World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, South Asia & Europe and the Middle East only
- Thu 20 Oct 201605:32GMTBBC World Service East Asia
- Thu 20 Oct 201606:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Thu 20 Oct 201612:32GMTBBC World Service except News Internet
- Thu 20 Oct 201618:32GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
- Thu 20 Oct 201619:32GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Mon 24 Oct 201601:06GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Mon 24 Oct 201606:06GMTBBC World Service East Asia
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