State No Longer Pays for Bills of Armenian Veterans of Afghan War, But They Don’t Complain

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Soviet troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, Armenian war veterans had gathered in Yerevan’s Victory Park to pay tribute to the memory of their fallen friends. Two years ago, a monument had been erected in Victory Park dedicated to the memory of Armenian soldiers who fought in the Soviet war in Afghanistan. Today, the veterans of that war placed flowers and laid a wreath at the foot of this monument.

Note, 3,700 soldiers and 400 officers had gone to Afghanistan from Armenia from 1979–1989; 86 of those perished, with many more injured. Many of the veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan also took part in the Nagorno-Karabakh War, in which 160 of them perished.

MP Armen Mkhitaryan, who is also the president of the Armenian Union of Veterans of the Afghan War, told journalists, “Our boys mark this day, we gather, we remember our past days, everyone participates. Today we have boys who serve in the Armenian army, in the National Security [Service], the Internal Affairs Ministry, many are already on pensions. They’re not ignored, but there are many problems, the majority of the boys don’t have work. Many have fought in two wars. There are countries today where Afghanistan war veterans receive quite a large pension, have benefits. Those states where financially the budget’s a bit poor, there the situation is bad.”

Mkhitaryan noted that today each veteran receives an assistance of 4,000 drams per month in order to cover their transportation costs.

One of the veterans, Sanasar Sahakyan, told journalists that the state provides them with a certain amount of assistance; however, the state is unable to provide more, though it does what it can. “State payment for [our] utility bills has disappeared. It existed until 2000. The question of work is a very big issue for veterans and it wouldn’t be bad if these issues got resolved,” he said. Note, the state used to pay for at least half, if not more, of veterans’ utility bills, but has since replaced this with the 4,000 drams (about $11 US) monthly payment.

Responding to a question by journalists as to how much the state assists them, Levon Balibekyan, a veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan who lost his leg, said, “We’re among friends, we always pay attention to each other. And we get assistance from the state. As one of the injured, they give me good benefits, 63,000 drams (about $173 US), which of course is not enough to live on today.”