War changes people, their lives and dreams. Sargis Harutyunyan, a soldier from Artsakh, lost his friends and both legs during the 44-day war in 2020, but when he was in hospital he made up his mind never to fall into despair, fight on and move forward.
Sargis was born in the village of Aknaberd in Artsakh’s Shahumyan region, which is about 70 km away from Karvachar. After graduating from school, he entered the Stepanakert Vocational School. After two years of study, Sargis was drafted into the army.
He had already been serving for 1.5 years when the war broke out. He served in Martakert and was on combat duty at the military position which Hero of Artsakh Robert Abajyan defended. On September 27, he was on duty when an alarm was sounded. Sarkis and his fellow soldiers thought it was just another alarm, but shortly afterwards the Azerbaijani military started shelling their military unit.
At first the troops were moved to shelters, two or three hours later they left them and headed to the combat positions. Sargis was at the Martakert positions until 22 October, then his unit was moved to Martuni, and later to Chartar, remaining there until the end of the war.
On October 28, Sargis fought his last battle. "We suffered a lot of casualties, but we refused to leave our post until the end," he says.
After suffering an injury, he was taken to the Martuni hospital, but on the way the ambulance overturned and he was taken to the hospital by a second car with great difficulty. The young man remembers that day in visceral detail as he was conscious. He lost it only when the hospital doctors said he had been saved. He opened his eyes already in the Stepanakert hospital and two days later he was transported to Yerevan. He stayed in Heratsi Hospital Complex until November 21, where he underwent three surgeries.
Sargis tries not to recall the hellish days of war, the pain stifles him when he recalls his dead friends… He tries to look forward and fight on.
Getting acquainted with Lieutenant-Colonel Sargis Stepanyan, head of the Federation of Disabled Athletes of Armenia and multiple European and world champion in armwrestling, was fateful for the Artsakh man. Thanks to his support, Sargis not only overcame his mental health problems, but also after getting prosthetic legs he started going to the gym founded by Sargis Stepanyan, fully recovered and then began to participate in competitions.
"The very first meeting with Sargis Stepanyan changed a lot in my life. Thanks to him I changed my outlook on life. After the prosthetics I started to recover and try my hand at armwrestling. Not only me, but also many of my friends followed his example. I do not know what would have happened if I had not met him, whether I would have been able to overcome my mental issues so quickly. I had never taken up sports before the war, but now I can't imagine my life without it," Sargis Harutyunyan tells Panorama.am.
He took part in armwrestling championships organized by the Federation of Disabled Athletes of Armenia, earning the champion’s title. Then he competed at the world and European championships.
Sargis Harutyunyan won gold at the 24th European & Para Armwrestling Championships in Bucharest in May, defeating his Turkish rival.
The next competition is scheduled to be held in September in Turkey. "We should definitely win. I defeated the Turk, we have to make sure we win in Turkey as well," Sargis says.
The Artsakh athlete is now thinking about achieving greater success in the sport. He does not exclude that he will work as a coach in the future, saying he sees his future in Artsakh.
Sargis got married a few months ago. His spouse, Tatev, is also from Artsakh. Together they try to support each other and overcome difficulties they face. According to him, during the war he lost his fellow soldiers, friends of childhood and youth. His wife's brother was also among the war victims. Sargis and Tatev dream of living and raising their children in Artsakh. Sargis’ parents are building a house for their son in Aknaberd.
"I only feel good in Artsakh and I must go back. My children must live in Artsakh. The presence of the enemy there is a matter of time. The enemy has no place in our land, now it is in Artsakh, but it won't stay there in the future," Sargis adds.