NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION OF ARMENIA

War is a cruel teacher. In order to understand what friendliness, responsibility, faith and patriotism are, you need to read hundreds of thick books, whereas on the battlefield you learn them in a few days, moreover, you learn them in practice.

It is impossible to put into words the pain and helplessness when you see how the fire devours your friend’s life, and you cannot do anything to help him. Murad Abrahamyan, a third-year part-time student at the Faculty of Urban Economy and Ecology, was on the hot lines of Artsakh from the first day to the last day of the war. With inexpressible pain he remembers all the moments when he saw with his own eyes wounded, paralyzed soldiers and imagined that in a minute he could find himself in the same condition. “And from that pain, from the ruthlessness of the enemy, you at once become a few years older and mature,” says Murad, adding that from that moment on you decide to survive by any means and go back to your family by God’s will. For that, he considers being cautious highly important, but of course, destiny also plays its role. Now he has become more cold-hearted and cautious, as well as, he is able to react to the situations more realistically.

Rafik Harutyunyan and Harutyun Mailyan, part-time students in their last year of studies, were military servicemen during the April Four-Day War. It was also a war, but they cannot compare these two wars. Rafik was wounded on the very first day, he confesses that before leaving for the battlefield you imagine it to be “just a fight”, you want to try your abilities and fight against the fire, but right at the very beginning your expectations turn upside down. While Harutyun, who fought for the defense of the Homeland in Davit Bek village of Kapan region, says that the enemy is rather provocative and threatening than a fighter. The several shellings of the village are proof of that. “They always wanted to show that Armenia is also under threat, that people living in Armenia are also in danger. That was the impression.”

Seryozha Petrosyan, a fourth-year student, was also in Davit Bek village for about 10 days. For him the war, no matter how bloody and painful, was more heroic, memorable and glorious…