Norayr Hajiyan died as a hero during the heated clashes on the Nagorno-Karabakh-Azerbaijan border on the night of 4 April. Norayr was a member of the Union of Volunteer Land Defenders of the Republic of Armenia. He was one of the first to volunteer to defend Artsakh on 2 April and participated in the military operations in the direction of Talish.

Norayr Hajiyan was born to a family of a journalist on July 17, 1976 in Baku. In 1988, he moved to Yerevan due to the well-known events that were taking place in Baku. From December 1992 to late August 1995, he participated in the defense of Armenia (Kornidzor, Shurnukh) and in the self-defense of Artsakh (Lachin, Kelbajar, Omar Peak, Ghubatlu, Martakert) as part of different volunteer detachments (Aramo-114 VLD battalion, Koryun Ghumashyan’s VLD battalion, Artiv-24 VLD detachment). From 1997 to 1999, he completed fixed-term military service in the Defense Army of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (defense for the Askeran region).

During the days of another aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan in August 2015, he was enlisted as a volunteer and actively participated in the defense battles in Artsakh.

Norayr graduated from the Department of Economics at Mesrop Mashtots University of Stepanakert.

Although he was registered in Yerevan, he moved to Stepanakert after completing his fixed-term military service. He worked for Karabakh-Telecom CJSC for many years, and in the last year-for the Foundation for Support to Villages and Agriculture of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

He has been awarded the Drastamat Kanayan Medal (4 May 2007), the Vazgen Sargsyan Medal (14 September 2011) Medal of the RA Ministry of Defense, the Maternal Gratitude Medal (9 May 2009) of the Maternity NGO of the NKR, the Aramazd Commemorative Medal of the RA and was posthumously awarded with the Combat Service Medal (5 April 2016) by the decree of the NKR President.

He has two sons who are 10 years old and 6 years old.