Bagrat Hambardzumyan, a resident of the village of Gudemnis in the Meghri region, learned on October 5 that his son, Suren, was no more. The body was brought on the 6th. On the 7th, he buried his son. “Do you need a biography?” Bagrat is in a state that will not be able to talk about his son for long time.
He buried his wife a year and a half ago, and now — Suren. He has a son who is also recruited from Meghri region.
Bagrat tells about Suren briefly, out of politeness, just for not rejecting the journalist’s request. “Suren Bagrat Hambardzumyan. Born on January 1, 1992, in the village of Goodemnis. Studied at Agarak School after Yeghishe Charents. After graduating, he left for service in the Armenian Army, Air Defense Regiment.”
Suren worked at the Agarak Copper and Molybdenum Combine for about three years. The work was not to his liking. He quit his job and preferred the military path. He entered into contract service in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia.
Every time Suren left the house, he would say to his grandmother, “Let me kiss you so you don’t sleep: I will be back soon.” And Grandma was not sleeping. She was always waiting, like a mother.
He was on combat duty when he learned that a war had started in Artsakh.”
He left for Artsakh with his friends as a volunteer, served and was shot in Jebrail. He did not tell his father that he was at the frontline. Bagrat was told by his son’s friends later that Suren was the first volunteer from their unit. Looking at him, the other boys of the military unit also asked to be sent to Artsakh.
For several days, while his son was alive, Bagrat was convinced that he was in Armenia, at his place of service.
“He was in Jebrail, and I was calling, talking to him thinking that he was doing his usual duty in Armenia. I was saying ‘how are you?’, and he was answering ‘I am fine’,” Bagrat recalls.
Suren had his last conversation with the father two days before his death. “He did not say anything about himself. He was just asking about us. He was never talking about himself. As far as I knew, he was normal; just that!”
The weather was cold, and Bagrat remembers how he worried that his son would catch a cold. After that last conversation, he called Suro again, but he was no longer available.
He was informed of his death very delicately and gradually. “First, they came and said, ‘Suro seems to be injured,’ afterwards, his friends told the truth.”
I ask him to describe Suren. “He loved nature, our village, he was devoted to his friends. He valued his friends, his homeland, his service more than himself. He was like that, but he was a silent man. He wasn’t much open with me. He talked more to his friends. He would do whatever you told him, he would say ‘yes’ to whatever I said, right, but he had a stubborn character. ”
Bagrat ‘s conversations with his son were always brief. Now he regrets for that.
Syuzan Simonyan