More than four years have passed since the events of the four-day April war in Nagorno-Karabakh, and even though the soldiers who died then are considered heroes in Armenia, their families sometimes live without money, not to mention honors.
According to the article of Armenia's Factor.am "Ասացի ՝ ասեք հերոսի մայր է, պատասխանեցին ՝ դա կապ չունի"․ Ապրիլյան պատերազմում զոհվածի մայրը ծանր սոցիալական վիճակում է, ստիպված է բնակարանը վաճառել, the family of Grigor Harutyunyan, who died in Karabakh on April 2, 2016 and was posthumously awarded with "For Courage" medal, lives in Erebuni district in very troubled social circumstances. Grigor’s mother Anahit Harutyunyan told Factor.am that they plan to cut the power in their apartment today. The family's utility bills exceed the threshold set by the government to neutralize the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, so the Harutyunyans were not able to use the electricity benefits as part of the support program.
"Thanks to these programs, they reduced the gas price by only two thousand drams, but not the electricity price. They came yesterday and warned that if I do not pay, they will have to cut the power. I have to pay 23 thousand drams, but I have it. I have 100 thousand drams of debts for food in the store, and I don’t know how to pay this debt," Anahit Harutyunyan says. The family's only income was her salary of 80 thousand drams and 170 thousand drams, which she received from the Military Insurance Fund.
"In 2016, I received a one-time grant in the amount of 4.1 million drams from the fund, of which 1.7 million drams were paid to erect a tombstone on my son's grave in Yerablur, and the rest is left to us. We get 170 thousand drams a year, for twenty years. I got into debts, I am a lonely woman, I gave three sons to the Armenian army, my husband is dead, I am the only employee. I have only 80 thousand drams and this bonus."
Anahit Harutyunyan says that almost everyone in her family has health issues. The apartment was offered for sale to pay off debts. Harutyunyan tried to inform Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan about her problems. "I can’t meet with the mayor, he refuses to receive me even for five minutes. I applied for an appointment, but they didn’t call me, I said that I’m the hero’s mother, they said that it doesn’t matter," Harutyunyan says.
"I will live on the street, but I will pay my debts. My mother had surgery, now she is undergoing chemotherapy. My oldest son had surgery, now he is in Moscow, my relatives take care of him. I got into debts and now owe five million drams. They think that I am manipulating them with the death of my child, but I’m actually broke, and they call me and say I have to find money," the widow complains.
She had to change the photo on the monument to her son, since the photo on the tombstone, established by the government, did not even remotely resemble her son's face. "At first I thought that it's someone else’s grave. I asked to change the image for two years, but they didn’t do this. This year I was told I should change the photo for my money and they won’t refund me. It's not that much - around 100 thousand drams, but I still owe the master 50 thousand drams," she said.
Factor.am asked director of the War Insurance Fund Varujan Avetikyan to clarify the situation the deceased soldier's mother in. He said: "If the incident occurred after January 1, 2017, families will receive 5-10 million drams at a time: 10 million if it is death or a first degree disability, 5 million if it is a second degree disability. And if it happened before 2017, a one-time payment is not made. "
