Wounded Soldiers Recuperate at Stepanakert’s Military Hospital

STEPANAKERT, NKR (A.W.)—“I want to pass this message to the boys at my [military] post: ‘Guys, I’m with you. I won’t stay long at this hospital. I’m coming back,’” said Vahe Yeremyan, a Nagorno-Karabagh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) Defense Army serviceman currently receiving medical treatment at the main military hospital in Stepanakert. Yeremyan’s words were addressed to his friends on the northeastern front of the NKR Line of Contact (LoC), as well as others guarding the border.

Yeremyan was stationed in a trench, monitoring the LoC, when he was wounded in an attack on April 3. He is already recuperating, and says he will return to his post—if need be, at this very moment.

“The price of us being alive today was paid with the lives of our killed boys, the lives of our fighters, and the boldness and bravery of those who continue to hold our [military] positions. This, the Turks can’t stomach—they haven’t stomached it so far,” Yeremyan told the Armenian Weekly.

In another hospital bed, Major Vartan Knyazyan is sure the Azeris have gotten what they deserve. Knyazyan was wounded in Talish, in the north of Artsakh, while trying to retrieve the body of his friend—a fellow serviceman—from an active combat zone, as well as assisting another wounded soldier.

“I couldn’t do it, but there I witnessed how our guys were able to. In general, the Armenian servicemen are completing their missions in full; the proof of this is that we are once again in control of the situation, as well as the military positions,” said Knyazyan.

Bella Aprahamyan was also at the hospital. Her son was serving on the southeastern front when he was shot and subsequently transported to the military hospital in Stepanakert. Bella learned about her son’s injuries that same day and immediately went to see him. Her tears flowing down her face, she said, “His wounds are to his arm and leg. I can see that he is already getting better, but he keeps telling me that he will go back to the front line… What can I do? What am I able to do? I’m praying for peace.”

There is only one serviceman left in the hospital’s intensive care unit; the others are recuperating fast, said the head of the military hospital in Stepanakert, Zori Saghyan. “The hospital was prepared for such situations. Our resources were sufficient to deal with the medical emergency,” said Saghyan, lieutenant colonel of the army’s medical department. One after the other, his patients will be soon released from the hospital, he added.

Armenian Weekly correspondent Ani Avetyan filed this report from Stepanakert on April 9.