During the 44-day war, conscript Edgar Grigoryan fought with his commander in the front line, in one of Jabrail’s most dangerous bases. Edgar was the first citizen of Armenia in the 21st century, he was born on January 1, 2001.
“On September 26, he called and said, ‘Mom, I don’t want anything else except the cake baked by you. I miss you: I will bite it and feel you.’ This is what the conscript’s mother remembers from her last conversation with her son.
Mrs. Varsik says that the search for her son lasted a long time, during which her health deteriorated sharply and she could no longer stand the pain and tension.
“It was November, we were in front of the Ministry of Defense, when I fell into a coma. I was taken to the hospital… It was in late December when my son was found. My family, my sister, my other son knew that he was killed, but they did not tell me… He had been with his commander, they had fought together. After awhile, my Edgar gets surrounded. A tank hits next to hom. He gets up and continues to fight… His ceremony took place on the 23rd of the month, now he is in Yerablur [military cemetey]… I have not seen him [means his body]. We gave DNA samples. Since I have not seen him, I hope that one day he will come back.”
According to Edgar’s mother, many worthy soldiers do not receive the Order of the “Battle Cross” today, and she demands that the state give her son what he rightfully deserves. “It’s a upsetting. Now I want to demand them to provide for rightfully is his. If they are talking about the law, my son came to this country by law, he went to serve by law.
I want my son to be given a Combat Cross, because he deserves it; he should have been demobilized and returned home four months ago.”
Edik Nadimyan, Edgar’s colleague, says that the only thing that remained from his friend was his watch. “He had a watch, he gave it to me to to fix it for him. It stayed with me. On the evening of the 26th, he called and asked if I still had his watch. I said yes. He said, keep it; you can fix it after we return from the positions… That watch was very precious to him; is father had gave him a present.”
Edik does not talk much about the war, he says that he and the other surviving boys changed a lot during that time, they grew up a lot. “I only saw a gun firing incessantly from Edgar’s post. I had no idea who it might be. Then it turned out to be Edgar,” Edik recalls.
Ani Gevorgyan