WAR IMPRINT: KARABAKH VETERANS SAY THEY ARE NEGLECTED BY AUTHORITIES
Anahit Martirosyan
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan

ArmeniaNow
11.07.11 | 10:43

A great number of Karabakh war veterans and their families believe
that their merit has not been appreciated by the state as it should
have. The majority of them say they don’t feel the kind of state care
they deserve.

Enlarge Photo Anahit Galstyan

Anahit Martirosyan, commander of the Anahit brigade, who left for
the frontline leaving behind two sons, cannot help her frustration.

“Why is it that today a woman who has lost both her legs is not
entitled to free-of-charge medical assistance. Why a socially
vulnerable freedom-fighter’s electricity should be cut off with a
comment that ‘you do not have any privileges over others’. Isn’t it
freedom-fighters’ merit that today Artsakh can stand victorious?! I am
a soldier, an Armenian soldier and a victorious soldier. But I hate
waking up every morning thinking how on earth I am going to raise
my two sons. This state has to assist freedom-fighters, support them
and grant certain privileges,” says Anahit.

Oppositional Heritage party member, MP Larisa Alaverdyan, who has been
repeatedly voicing this issue, said in an interview to ArmeniaNow
that 20 years have passed but the issues of freedom-fighters, war
prisoners, disabled war veterans, families of war victims and those
who went missing still remain unresolved.

“The most important issue is that of unemployment, that has to be
solved first of all. And, for some reason, everybody turns to the
defense ministry, but the government is the one to handle it. What
psychological state we can talk about when these people apply for jobs
and see that someone who was hiding throughout the war gets selected,
but not them,” says Alaverdyan adding that the right thing would be
if every person who has never served in the army could witness what
respect freedom-fighters are treated with.

“We have to understand that we are dealing with families of politically
active and patriotic people,” says Alaverdyan, who believes that
utility privileges have to be given to these families as well as
the recovery of bank deposits they had during the Soviet times [and
were lost due to national currency change after independence] should
be prioritized.

She says that in fact the number of freedom-fighters is not that
high to pose tangible difficulty for the government for granting
such privileges.

In total, there are 15,000 Karabakh war veterans registered in Armenia
that participated in the national liberation war of Karabakh against
Azerbaijan between 1990 and 1994.

Anahit Galstyan, spouse of legendary Arabo brigade member Hamlet
Galstyan (who went missing along with 78 other Armenian soldiers
surrounded in 1992 in Karabakh’s Hasan Ghaya village), says that she
has seen a lot of hardship ever since her husband never returned home
from the war. Anahit, math teacher by profession, had no choice but
to give up her work at school and become a vendor.

“I was so far from trade, but as years passed I have become a vendor,”
she told ArmeniaNow. Up until 2008 when on YouTube she saw the footage
of Arabo brigades’ killed members and recognized her husband among
them, Anahit had still been cherishing the hope that her husband
might be alive. That day opened the old wound and brought new grief
to Anahit and her three daughters.

The woman can still vividly recall in her memory the cold shop she
used to sell fruits at in order to raise her children; and although
she has managed to overcome all the hardship due to her own efforts,
she says has received certain help from humanitarian organizations.

“As for the state, it has assisted as much as it could,” says the
woman with a smile and adds that, for example, her daughters received
high student allowance while in university.

It is noteworthy that the union of veterans of task-force militia
units has appealed to the National Assembly and the Government of
Armenia to bring to the parliament floor a bill defining privileges
to participants of the Artsakh war, disabled veterans and families
of war victims.

“The purpose of drafting and then applying the bill is to regulate the
relations between the state bodies and freedom-fighters, disabled war
veterans and families of war victims. The law would help to shape
a positive moral-psychological atmosphere for freedom-fighters,
would raise their role and enhance their profile in our country,”
believe the war veterans.