Dr. Nver Baghdasaryan, doctor-dentist of Chartar community of Martunu region of NK, has about 17 years of professional activity experience. After working for six years in the Chartar regional hospital, he opened a private dental office in the same medical institution with his own investment, where he worked until the One-Day War of last year.
As a result of the complete blockade, Dr. N. Baghdasaryan’s dental materials had already run out and in 2023 and, on September 19, half an hour before the war, he went on foot to the medical facility, where, with the last materials, he was supposed to treat a patient waiting for him.
” I was going to work for one person that day and for treatment I were going to use the last materials I somehow managed to procure. However, half way to the dental clinic, the patient left for the front line, where he was seriously injured and transferred to the intensive care unit. The first explosion was at the communication hub located in the upper part of Chartar, the mobile connection was immediately disrupted, the community was cut off and shelling began in the direction of the defense positions. The hospital was on the hill and from there I watched as fire poured out from all sides. The majority of the medical staff were women and they shuddered in fear. It was necessary to promptly prepare to receive the first wounded,” the doctor presented the first moments of the war.
Couches were placed at the entrance of the hospital, first aid supplies were prepared, reserve medicine was taken out from the storage and, after an hour, the first civilian wounded from Machkalashen village was received. The patient with multiple shrapnel injuries was sent to Stepanakert, but his life could not be saved. Gradually, the number of injured people began to increase. Ambulances had almost no fuel. The servicemen from the positions who had minor injuries reached the local hospital on foot. And the positions were at a distance of 5 km. After providing first aid to the seriously injured, they were somehow sent to the Martuni district hospital. According to the doctor, they were in contact with Stepanakert medical facilities for some time, then the connection was completely cut off and they could not even contact the ambulance of their medical staff, which was used to transport the wounded. Under fire and shelling from Chartar, an ambulance with the last supplies of fuel brought the injured five times to the Martuni medical facility.
“During the One-Day War, we received 19 wounded in our hospital, two of whom later died. Four wounded returned to their positions after receiving first aid. The gunshot wound in the neck of one of the wounded was only 2 mm’s away from the carotid artery, as a result of which he was saved from death. A soldier who was lightly wounded by a sniper’s shot was completely exhausted from hunger. He kept saying, ‘Bandage it, I’m going,’ but he could not walk. We understood that he was hungry. I kept him until he ate, we gave him a drip for about an hour, he slept a little, and at three in the morning he got up and went to the same position,” the doctor said.
Due to the lack of power and communication, the medical staff was not aware of the ceasefire. The position “Kohak” was close to the hospital. As soon as the artillery became silent, they realized that some kind of agreement had been reached. After some time, there were close battles in the mentioned position; the enemy had hundreds of victims in that valley and collected their bodies for two days.
“All the men of Chartar were in positions. There was an order to keep in the reserve some men, but no one stayed. Due to lack of food and fuel problems, there were harsh difficulties. In the One-Day War, 11 Armenians and hundreds of Azerbaijanis fell in our positions. It was also interesting that the enemy’s artillery could not destroy the 80-mm mortar located in one of our positions during 24 hours. And in that position, we had neither wounded nor victims. The Armed Forces of Artsakh fulfilled the task set before them without fail, the servicemen fought selflessly until the last drop of their blood,” the doctor noted.
A native of Chartar, 47-year-old doctor Baghdasaryan stayed in the hospital until September 24. Fuel was provided for the evacuation of the people of Chartar in the late evening of September 26. The entire region of Martuni was already completely displaced, except for Chartar. “At that time, Azerbaijani soldiers, accompanied by an armored car of Russian peacekeepers, entered the village, as if they deviated from the road, and then left. We had not surrendered our weapons and were ready to resist if necessary. We were forced to relocate from Chartar on September 27. The municipality organized the evacuation of the families. They went from house to house so that no one was left behind. There were elderly people who refused to leave their homes, but Azerbaijanis were already in the community and they had to leave,” says N. Baghdasaryan.
At that time, the doctor’s family was in Stepanakert and due to the lack of communication, he had no information from them. He was able to contact his family only five days after the One-Day War. According to the doctor, during the deportation, the Azerbaijanis stopped the car of a family being deported from Chartar and took the money from them, removed the gold chain from the wife’s neck, her ring and other valuable items. After that, the employees of the municipality applied measures to evacuate the rest of the residents of the community without obstacles.
- Baghdasaryan was reunited with his family on September 27, and in the evening of the same day, they took the road to deportation. The doctor left the dental office furnished with his investments over the years and all the expensive professional tools in Chartar and now he is unable to continue his professional activities in Yerevan.
Zara Mayilyan