If I don't write now, I will never write about it again: Journalist on Onik Gasparyan

Journalist Vaskan Sargsyan wrote on his Facebook page: "If I don't write now, I will never write about it again. I have known Onik Gasparyan for a long time, since he was the commander of the Ijevan military unit and later the commander of the corps. I always wrote about border issues, and we sometimes had heated arguments, but I recognized that man as a patriot, a resolute officer. Frankly, when Artur Aghabekyan was deceiving the people with fake victorious reports from the front, I thought that Onik Gasparyan should intervene, the army should prevent the surrender of homeland territories. However, we probably do not know much, and we will find out later.

Let me tell you a story about Onik Gasparyan that he told me. In the 1990s, he was injured by a landmine explosion at the border, and his leg was amputated below the knee at the Ijevan hospital. His comrades wanted to transfer him to Yerevan, but Onik opposed it, saying that he had already been operated on. However, his friends transported him to Yerevan against his will.

My old friend, my compatriot, the miraculous doctor Artavazd Sahakyan examined his leg and, after tying a thread above the amputation, went home that night. At 4 a.m., sensing something was wrong, Artavazd Sahakyan returned to the hospital and saw that the thread he had tied had dug deeply into Onik's leg. This indicated that gas gangrene was starting; if Artavazd Sahakyan had gone to work in the morning, the gangrene would have risen to his throat and killed Onik. Artavazd Sahakyan operated and saved Onik Gasparyan's life. I do not wish to heroize Onik, but throughout my 30 years of journalism, I have only heard good things about him. In a difficult time for my homeland, I stand by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia and Onik Gasparyan, and I hope Onik does not take offense at me for publishing his story."