An Armenian peacekeeper in Iraq

Or Atabek’s church

by Armen Hakobyan

Published: Saturday December 29, 2007 in Armenia at work

Atabek Petrosian standing in front of the Church he built while serving in Iraq .

Yerevan - It can be said that meeting 53-year-old driver Atabek Petrosian was the will of providence. It can also be said that the meeting with the hero of this installment of Armenia at Work was simply a coincidence.

I met Atabek under strange circumstances. The Yerevan office of the World Bank had taken a group of journalists to see what had been done with the loan provided for the reconstruction of an irrigation network. On the journey I started chatting with the bus driver. He was bright eyed, neatly dressed, had a calm appearance, and educated speech. During our conversation I found out that he was assigned to Iraq twice as a driver for the Armenian peacekeeping battalion staff. More interestingly during that mission, which is solely a humanitarian one, Atabek had constructed a church in one of the military barracks. At that moment, I understood that it was impossible for me not to write about Atabek Petrosian.

The driver with a talent for construction

It seems that transporting a load from point A to point B in our technically saturated world is a basic, simple, routine thing. That routine work however can also contain heroism and be equal to a heroic act. Everything depends on circumstances and I think that the circumstances and reality in present-day Iraq are clear to all. Our peacekeeping military drivers who leave for Iraq participate in a humanitarian mission and transport only humanitarian loads. However, what is aid for one person is a target for an extremist terrorist. It is understandable that not everyone would have the courage to leave for Iraq, which has been torn apart, let alone transport loads on Iraqi roads. And for that, apart from being professional, they must also be brave. Atabek has gone to Iraq twice. Maybe he would have gone again, if he had not been demobilized because of his age. Professionals are always in demand, or as the Armenian saying accurately states, "A hewn stone will find its place." Currently Atabek Petrosian is working as driver of a tour bus for the Bus-Voyage Company.

When we recently met for the second time, this time in his home, he said that he was on vacation, as the tourist season has come to an end. Tours are anticipated once again in March of next year, with the opening of the tourists season. Until then....

We sit comfortably next to the wood stove with Atabek and his comrade-in-arms Arsen Mikoian, another recruit of the peacekeeping battalion. "I would say that driving is my profession. Before leaving for the Soviet army I took driving lessons at the Hrazdan driving school. After finishing my military service I worked as a delivery man, and then worked as a warehouse manager at the Armenian Trade Unions' Council. I have also worked as a tour group leader and have taken tourists abroad. Right now I am working as a driver and as you have seen, I drive a tour bus."

In response to my request Artabek Petrosian tells me about himself and his family. "My friends call me Ato. I am 53 years old and my wife's name is Eva. We have four children; three boys: Hamlet, Vardan, and Movses, and one girl, my little saint Mariam. I have named my daughter Mariam, after the Blessed Virgin. My oldest child is 32 years old and the youngest is in 10th grade. My family moved to Yerevan from Charentsavan in 1986. My father Petros was from the Solak village of Hrazdan and my mother Chinar was from Vanadzor. I built this house completely by myself, apart from the plastering, so I also have the talents of a builder. My father was a builder, a master mason, and he participated in building a number of famous structures. Even if he was not the master, he was an assistant. I travel around Armenia proudly, especially when I pass by those buildings on which my father has worked. Maybe I have inherited the genes of a constructor. During my years in school my father used to take me to construction sites with him."

Then Atabek remains silent for a second and looks at me with a smile, as if to ask what else I would like to know.

Journey toward Iraq

It is hard to say what exactly prompted Atabek to take that step. He talks about that as calmly and simply as he talks about everything; as if he were talking about a comprehensible and natural thing. "I accidentally found out that skilled drivers were required to serve in Iraq. At that time I was eligible and so I applied. We underwent training for approximately one year, learning on ZIL-131 Russian-manufactured trucks. They tested us to be sure that we were truly experienced. Apart from that we also learned first aid and English. On January 18, 2005, after approximately 11 months of training, when the orders came through, we were assigned to Iraq for six months to participate in the humanitarian mission. By the way, let me note that my birthday was on January 17. We celebrated it and the next day we left."

Naturally his family members didn't approve of his decision. He said that at the beginning his older sons, who had moved to Greece about 10 years ago, stopped talking to him as a sign of protest. They would continually call home to find out from their mother "how dad is" and if there was any news. Later, members of the family, as well as his sons living abroad learned to wait faithfully and pray and hope, as people close to servicemembers learn to do.

Should we be there?

Now that Atabek's service is in the past, I ask my interlocutor his opinion as a citizen: does he think Armenia must be present in Iraq even on a humanitarian mission? "If we leave big politics aside, and leave that to politicians, simply as a citizen, I believe that we must go to Iraq; especially since we went for humanitarian reasons; we went to help. Irrespective of how the war started, currently Iraq needs to be rehabilitated. From that point of view something important and helpful is being carried out there, in which many countries of the world and many nationalities are taking part. Therefore, as a nation and as a state why should we not be present there? You know what, when our national flag waved on Iraqi soil it was something of great pride for us; the fact that we were there along with nine other states. That was also something to be proud of; that we are here too and we too have come to be useful. Until then many did not know of us. They did not even know that an Armenian nation existed on this planet. But they now know," said Ato.