Arsen Danielov, an Assyrian conscript, was his mother’s only child. He was due to return home in just three months, but the 44-day war began.
His mother, Galina Danielova, says: “We were living poorly then. He dropped out of school. I was working in a poultry farm. I said, Arsen, I do not want you to be on the streets, there are many troubles in the streets: come and work with me. I took him to work with me. He worked there several years, then he was drafted into the army. I was calm when I learned that he would serve in Ijevan, not in Artsakh. But I did not know it would be like this… He had only three months left to come home.”
During the war, Arsen called his mother often and said that he was fine, that everything was fine, that he could not call more because the power supply was not always available to them due to the war.
His last phone call was made on October 18.
“I always asked, I said, Arsen, we heard that all soldiers should be taken to war. He said, ‘No, dear mom, do not get upset, do not be sad.’ It turns out that they were already taking him and he did not say anything. He was a spy. They didn’t tell me that either,” says the mother.
After not receiving any news from her son for several days, Mrs. Galina asked for a day off at work and left for Ijevan with her relatives. “We went to Ijevan military post. They said they had taken four hundred people to Artsakh, all of them were missing. I said, how can it be? For three months, I have not received any news from my child, they did not say anything. I went everywhere, there was no news. I even took the photo of him everywhere to find someone who would know me, so that I could at least know if they had seen him alive, or dead. Then there was news: they said your son had died. They said he had a few gold teeth. I said no, my child does not have gold teeth.”
To avoid such misunderstandings, a DNA test was ordered, and a month later, Arsen’s body was found.
The mother, however, continues to hope that there may have been a mistake this time as well and one day it will turn out that Arsen is alive. “My child was brought with his face covered, I do not believe…” According to official data, the Assyrian soldier was killed on October 19 in Mekhakavan as a result of a gunshot wound to the head.
Arsen Danielov’s funeral was attended by several of his comrades in arms, who said that he died while rushing to the aid of his friends who were under siege.
Ani Gevorgyan