Assyrian conscript Ivan (Iokhan) Avdoshoyev was killed on October 24, 2020 in Askeran. A few days before the incident, in a phone conversation with his uncle, he said that if he did not call even a day, it would mean that he was gone.
The grandmother of the dead soldier, Zoya, says that Ivan was a beloved child, lived a happy and interesting childhood and adolescence. Years ago, he moved with his parents from his native village of Arzni in the Kotayk region to Russia, but returned when he became 18 to serve in the Armenian army.
At the beginning of the 44-day war, he was serving in Martuni. He was calling and talking to his family every day, assuring them that he was not taking part in the hostilities. Only a few days later, he told his uncle that he was in hot battles. Ivan’s uncle Khachatur Avdoshoev says that he moved from Martuni to Askeran on October 14 and died ten days later. ” He was a spy. He went to do an assignment, then came back to rest. The commander came and said that twelve people were needed to climb the mountain and guard it. Everyone understood that they were going to die: there would be no one who would survive. Four people agreed to go. The mountain was guarded by four people. When a grenade fell on them, a shrapnel entered into Iokho’s back. The second projectile landed next to Iokho. The blast swept through Iokho, two men remained alive. One lost his leg, the other – his hand, but they survived. Ioho took the wave on himself. Later, the surviving men told us that, if it weren’t for Ioho, the three of us would die too. “
Upon hearing the news of Ivan’s death, Khachatur was unable to tell the truth to his parents, who were still in Russia. The truth became known to them after they returned to Armenia.
During that time, his uncle was searching for his nephew’s body.
“I went to Abovyan. There was a sack next to the door. They said, ‘This is your child.’ I opened the sack, it was all dirt, the hair looked like his, but I looked at the face; it was not him. My wife and I once had bought him a present, a military watch. I checked to see if the watch was on his wrist, it would mean it was his body. I looked for and found the arm, took it out and saw that the watch was on it… Then there was a fight because they have thrown the child next to the door. I was very angry about that… When I got out, there were a lot of people outside. Someone said to me, ‘Why are you so upset? Glory to your dead: you see the child’. I thought, what does he mean? Then I understood why they said that. There werepeope who buried jusy one arm, there are people…” tells the uncle of the killed soldier.
Ani Gevorgyan