Everyone in the Lori village of Shnogh knows Saghatel Hanisyan.

The 52 year-old Artsakh war vet is something of a local fixture, whose battle exploits and stories of a mischievous youth have been heard countless times.

Recently, Saghatel fell ill. He was more concerned about how he would heat the house where he lives with his Sokhak, his wife of two years, and his sister Rozan.

Saghatel spent five years on the   frontlines, He only returned after the ceasefire.

After graduating from high school, Saghatel studied at the Alaverdi Technical Institute and later at Yerevan’s Radio Technical School.

In 1988, he joined up with a volunteer unit in Shnogh that took up defense position in Noyemberyan. Later, with an Alaverdi ARF volunteer unit, he left for Ghazanchi. In 1991, Saghatel was in Martouni where he joined Manvel Grigoryan’s unit.

Saghatel says that he hasn’t forgotten any episode from the war years and is ready to recount them at anytime to anyone interested in listening.

Many are interested to hear his war tales. Others can’t believe that he fought in the war. Many Artsakh fighters used the guns, grenades and bullets Saghatel fashioned. Guns are part of his life. One day, Saghatel was arrested for possessing a few handmade bullets.

“I had brought back a few bullets that I had made. They came and took me to the Alaverdi Criminal Unit. I fought for five years and they arrested me for having five bullets. They questioned me for several days. I didn’t know if it was night or day,” he recounts.

Saghatel holds no grudges however and tells the story with a grin on his face. Nevertheless, he confesses that he doesn’t understand why some of the Artsakh fighters are praised and covered in the press while others like him are overlooked.

He regrets that he brought nothing back with him from the war as a memento. The only reminder of his war years is a photo in a history book. He’s never seen it but local school kids talk about it.

Shnogh residents say that Saghatel stood out even as a child. They recount that in the second grade Saghatel broke the lock of the school cafeteria and ate all the cream for the pastries. Years later, one of the school’s classrooms caught fire as a result of a lab experiment Saghatel was conducting that went wrong. There are many such stories of the mishaps involving Saghatel.

Today, Saghatel doesn’t have a job. Neither does his wife and sister.

In the past, Saghatel used to repair local farm equipment for the villagers, mostly getting paid in barter. More recently, Saghatel was a woodworker in the forest.

Women’s work in the village is seasonal. Rozan tends the gardens of others and Sokhak collects local herbs for sale. All three get by on the few cents they make and Sokhak’s 15,500 AMD ($40) monthly medical allowance.

Saghatel receives no assistance from the government. He says that while the Vanadzor Hospital offered to operate on him for free, he doesn’t even have the money for transportation.

“Treatment should be totally free. They say it’s free but it ain’t. As the saying goes, the Lord takes the master and the wolves, the waif,” Saghatel says with a smile. 

By Sona Amirjanyan

Yerevan State University 
Faculty of Journalism 
4th year student