Закавказский военный округ
Hakobyan was born in the town of Chartar in the Martuni region of the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. He graduated from the secondary school of Chartar in 1982 and entered the Alma-Ata Army Command College in the same year. From 1986 to 1987, he served in the 553rd Motorized Rifle Regiment, based in the Transcaucasian Military District, as an infantry platoon commander. Hakobyan then served in the Soviet armed forces stationed in Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War as deputy commander of a rifle company. In 1988, he returned to the Transcaucasian Military District to serve as company commander with the 366th Motorized Rifle Regiment, stationed in Stepanakert. After the regiment was pulled out from Stepanakert in March 1992, Hakobyan joined the Nagorno Karabakh Self-Defense Forces.