Epress.am News from Armenia
19-year-old Koryun Kirakosyan, a soldier in the Nagorno-Karabakh Armed Forces, was shot in the head on February 8 by an Azerbaijani sniper. According to a statement issued by the NKR defense ministry, the incident happened in the military positions near the northern town of Martakert. Currently, Kirakosyan is undergoing rehabilitation at the Red Cross hospital in Yerevan, and while the Armenian defense ministry has agreed to cover the costs of the treatments, still, the family can hardly handle the rest of the expenses.
Epress.am correspondents today paid a short visit to Koryun Kirakosyan in hospital. The young man has been left blind in one eye; he is unable to walk or talk properly and uses hand gestures to communicate.
According to his mother, Diana Karagezyan, Koryun has no trouble recognizing his parents; the former soldier, however, does not remember any letters or numbers; “He got so upset today when we showed him his sports medals.”
Koryun and his family lived in Russia for over 10 years; upon reaching draft age, however, the young man decided to return to Armenia, leaving his 17-year-old sister and his parents behind. After the incident in the army, the rest of the family has also returned to settle in their native village of Chambarak.
The mother has heard nothing of the story from her son; she has only been told by military officials that Koryun was looking out of an observation slot and making notes when an Azerbaijani sniper fired at him. The bullet went through Koryun’s left brow and into the back of his head. He has already undergone several surgeries in a Stepanakert hospital and in Yerevan’s Muratsan military hospital and is now receiving rehabilitation therapy.
“There has been no talk of medical treatment abroad; we haven’t asked, defense ministry hasn’t offered,” the mother says. She added that although the ministry pays for Koryun’s treatment, but no officials have come to visit her son in hospital.
Koryun’s father, Kamo Kirakosyan, does not leave his son’s hospital room, while the mother spends 4 hours a day commuting to and from Chambarak at a cost of nearly 30 dollars per day. The spouses are currently unemployed; “We are too caught up in hospitals and documentation. We have nothing here; we rely only on the help of our relatives” they say.
Two weeks after the incident, the family attempted to meet with defense minister Vigen Sargsyan to ask for temporary housing in Yerevan or some financial support. “We were not allowed to see him, so we wrote an appeal which has not been responded to. We want to relocate to Yerevan because my son needs a long treatment, and the therapists can’t come to Chambarak daily.”
The Kirakosyans’ wrote another appeal letter several days ago to prime minister Karen Karapetyan, who, however, has also yet to respond. Parliamentary candidate, oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, for his part, has promised to visit Koryun in hospital “one of these days.”