Edik Kirakosyan was a former football player of the “Ararat-Armenia-2” team. He was drafted into the army just a month before the war. On October 12, 2020, he was wounded in battles for Fizuli and died shortly afterwards.

Edik was the eldest son of the family and has two sisters. His grandmother Shoghik says that she was the one who took her grandson to play football for the first time. The young football player received three deferrals from the army because he lived an active football life. However, due to Covid-19, football games and events were canceled in 2020, so Edik was not given a new deferment and was drafted into the army.

“For 15 days, he called us and we talked. We were calling too. The last call was on October 11. He spoke, he was very happy, he said that everything was fine. He was wounded on the next day. His identity could not be ascertained at the time of the injury. His notebook was in his military jacket, but it was completely burnt. They probably took it out and threw it away, and the military booklet went with it. We found him on the 37th day. On the day of his funeral, it was the 40th day after his death,” says Shoghik.

The relatives managed to find out that the football player was wounded as a result of a drone attack. According to Shoghik, the incident took place when Edik hurried to help one of his wounded coservicemen.

Edik was posthumously awarded the Medal of Courage, but Grandma Shoghik says. “My child went to the army; they return a piece of metal to us. I understand the meaning; he is a hero of Artsakh, but all I have now is a metal medal.”

It should be noted that Ishkhan Grigoryan and Pavlik Manukyan of “Shirak” club, former football player of “Alashkert-2” Liparit Dashtoyan, former football player of “Urartu-2” Davit Babayan, goalkeeper Gagik Abrahamyan of “Pyunik” were also killed while defending the homeland in Artsakh.

Ani Gevorgyan

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