Hayaser Petrosyan from Artsakh was involved in a car accident in Stepanakert a year ago. As a result of the accident, the 36-year-old man became disabled. He was forcibly displaced and lives in Lchashen village of Gegharkunik region of Armenia now. He is in trouble: he is unable to get a disability status to take advantage of the benefits set by the RA government.
“Until now, I don’t have a disability certificate. I had problems with my birth certificate, I changed it, then they found a typo in the marriage certificate of my parents. My father’s name is written in one place with an “R” and, in another place, with “R’” [there are two R-s in Armenian; hard and soft. They say that I have to wait a few months for a new one,” he says in a conversation with Forrights.am.
Hayaser is married, has three minor children. He lives on rent and has social problems. “The rent was 120,000 drams. The utilities were too much, we asked and they changed it to 100,000 drams. There are no [decent] conditions in the house, it is a damp house. There was no electricity, no faucet… The neighbors are normal people: they helped.”
Hayaser’s family consists of eight people: himself, his wife, three children, parents, brother. Everyone in the family is unemployed. “There is no work here. We have applied everywhere. My wife is a teacher; she applied at school, kindergarten, but they said there is no place. My father is retired, he likes to work in the garden, but the conditions here do not allow it,” says the father of children aged 2, 5, 8.
They are unable to fully benefit from the social support provided by the Armenian government to the forcibly displaced people from Artsakh. According to the Hayaser, he, his wife and children did not receive the money intended for the month of November, other family members did.
Hayaser has not completely overcome his health problems yet. He received treatment at the Stepanakert rehabilitation center, which gave positive results, but for full recovery, he needs a spinal cord surgery, the cost of which is 172,000 euros.
Narek Kirakosyan