The cooperation between experienced Soviet Army officers and Armenian generals with the guys, who were inexperienced and had no military education but were capable of making decisions and possessing high fighting spirit, who gained military skills during the war, played a major role in crafting our victories.

One of such Soviet Army generals was Christaphor Ivanyan, the legendary elderly man, who devoted the last years of his life to the Artsakh war, and after the ceasefire - to building an army.

In summer 1992, Serzh Sargsyan, the then Head of the Self-defense committee, invited me to the headquarters and introduced me as the commander of Askeran defense region to an elderly man dressed in civilian clothes.

The man turned out to be Christaphor Ivanyan, a General of USSR Armed Forces. He participated in the Great Patriotic War. After getting acquainted we moved towards the lines of Askeran defense region in the direction of Qaraglukh. While we were walking, the general asked me various questions about our staff, armaments, military hardware and the natural defense line.

We visited all the defense lines in Qaraglukh. The General was astonished that in such a short period of time we managed to establish effective self-defense forces and create a defense line, corresponding to requirements of modern warfare. Ivanyan was in a white shirt and he would often come out of the trenches to look at the enemy. I was worried about him urging to be careful. But he was completely devoid of fear.

After a while, the enemy’s artillery opened fire in the direction of our trenches and then the “Grad” was put into action. We all hid in the trenches. After the shelling he started to laugh out loud and said: “There’s a true war here”.

Later, when we sat down for a dinner together with the soldiers, he constantly talked about military training and about the importance of exercises. I told him that all the soldiers, be them in the infantry, in the artillery or in the military cars, were trained. He was very pleased that we did not take untrained soldiers to the trenches and hailed it. He said he would be consistent in creating training centers, since all the soldiers must be trained. Later on General Ivanyan, with a great sense of dedication, played a key role in founding military colleges to educate soldiers and officers. It's not accidental that there is a city, streets and military institutions called after Ivanyan in Artsakh today.

We returned to the headquarters later at night. The General reported to Serzh Sargsyan about the tour he had made. He had positive impressions and at the same time he asked me what military college I had graduated from. I did not have time to answer as Serzh Sargsyan said: “He didn't graduate from any military institution”.  Ivanyan became more excited and said: “It’s even better that we can have larger number of staff with a sense of responsibility in the army.”

Our relations have been very warm since that day and up to Ivanyan’s death. We shared opinions on every issue with one another - be it education or military operations.


Vitaly Balasanyan and Christaphor Ivanyan
Photo: From  Vitaly Balasanyan personal archive

Today, in the days of peace, the civil life of Artsakh requires Ivanyans in various spheres, people, who have attained knowledge and skills far from their motherland, who, with their devotion, would be able to give a serious impetus to the development of various spheres of our life.

Vitaly Balasanyan is NKR National Assembly member, Hero of Artsakh

These views are his own.