Description

Armenian-language edition.

In Atlanta, Harutyun Agha-Sargsyan had built a successful jewelry business and a family life. In 2016, he left for Artsakh to serve alongside Armenian soldiers. When war broke out in 2020, he went back.

I Must Be There follows the life behind those decisions. Ashot Poghosyan begins in the courtyards of Sari Tagh in Yerevan, where Harutyun grows up with the influence of his family, the Armenian Church and the demands of learning a craft. Emigration takes him through Lebanon and Italy to Los Angeles. He starts work the morning after his arrival and later builds his own business, turning Armenian letters and names into gold jewelry.

In Dallas and Atlanta, the jeweler becomes a community organizer. He welcomes Armenian artists into his home, supports church and educational projects, and helps Armenia’s delegation at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. His life is also marked by painful family losses.

Across twenty-two chapters, Poghosyan follows Harutyun from his workbench to military positions in Artsakh, through the family’s anxious wait for his return and the difficulty of coming home after war. Later chapters recount his support for a documentary about Syunik and his involvement in the defense of the Armenian Church.

This is a biography of a man who repeatedly leaves the security he has earned to be present where he believes he is needed. His decisions weigh on the people he loves. For him, the obligation to Armenia continues after he comes home.