From saving lives of the wounded in the war, suffering losses and hardest days in her life Tsovinar Hambartsoumian now runs a family-owned establishment near the Symphony of Stones in Garni, Armenia, where visitors can enjoy homemade coffee, juices, and Armenian brandy and barbeques and the most delicious trout while marveling at the natural wonder's geological and cultural history.
I’ve never thought of my actions as heroic. The heroes were the soldiers Ive met – Monte, Vanik, Arthur. There were days – cruel days full of horrible feelings. Once there was an officer’s life on the operating table and I had to ignore the exhaustion of those days and enter the operating room. It was hard, very hard. Remembers Tsovinar Hambartsoumian, a surgeon who volunteered for the war to save the lives of the soldiers and officers.
I went to where I was needed – Artsakh. My family was not even aware of it.
I volunteered for the war – she explains. Applied to the Ministry of Health and insisted on my application to be approved. I was transferring wounded ones from Artsakh to Armenia. My responsibility was to get the wounded soldiers to the medical facilities of Yerevan. It was too dangerous to treat people in the medical facilities of Artsakh as the Azerbaijani military were bombarding all the civilian infrastructures including schools, kindergartens and hospitals deliberately. In the Qanaqer-Zeytun med. facility Tsovinar was also assisting in operating the patients.
There were days when we would evacuate soldiers twice a day. We all felt supernatural strength those days, wouldn’t realize the time flew or tiredness. (The road from Yerevan to Stepanakert took 8 hours one way. Ed) The heaviest moment she told from those days is that once she had to call to the mother of a soldier who she was evacuating, to allow them to talk to each other fearing that the man may not make it to the hospital.
I would love to tell you funny story from those days but there were simply none. However, there were many encouraging ones. I couldnt believe my eyes when a soldier just recovered from a wound would apply to immediately join his regiment. I was in the warzone on my birthday. The worst day ever when I lost a very dear person and a relative.
I took a very heavy psychological responsibility on myself to stay in the Motherland at any cost. Even now I cannot remember the war without tears. I am one of those people who does not visit Yerablur, I just cant look at the graves of our young people. I'll go, what answer will I give, I'm sorry, but we couldn't keep what you gave your lives for? For the sake of those boys, for the sake of my country and my child's future, I will do everything to stay here. And that is when I decided to support the family touristic business. After the war, it was important to restart every job and develop business. Of course, it was difficult for us in the post-war period, but we had to stand up and move forward. Various challenges appeared both organizational and bureaucratic when we chose the exact place where we want to run the new business.
I have never eaten a more delicious trout in Armenia, it’s fantastic. You will not believe it but having traveled all over Armenia and Artsakh, for the first time I found myself in the "Symphony of Stones", where thousands of tourists arrive daily. How is this possible? Don't know. But the place is beautiful and not far from Yerevan. Traveler Journalist Alexander Lapshin says.