– Be careful, if something happens to you, your mom will go crazy.
– Grandma, do I look like a runaway boy?
Khachik Harutyunyan’s last conversation was on October 20. “Then there were explosions, he shouted ‘Alarm’ and said he would call us later. He was a brave guy and died as a brave man.”
The cross
(The father) Khachik has been playing football since the second grade. He played in Pyunik, then he was transferred to Ararat team. He was admitted to the Institute of Physical Education, after graduating, he went to Vazgen Sargsyan [military academy]. From there, he volunteered to go to Mataghis. He was serving in Mataghis for 3 years when the war started.
On September 27
The child was in Mataghis on the very first day of the war; he was in charge of the position, a senior lieutenant. It was the day of his duty when the first projectile fell at 7 in the morning. He distributed the weapons to the troops, placed them, then started the car and went to the battlefield. The commander of the battery says that until he took his wife and children out of the area and came back, Khachik said, “I don’t have projectiles, get projectiles!” But they could not do that either, he alone fired 190 projectiles in half an hour.
They fought in Mataghis for a week. First, they moved to Khojalu, then to Martuni Second. The transfer was fabricated. The command staff was completely from Leninakan, and they sent them, otherwise there was no such order. The head of the artillery says that there was an order from the Defense Army, but the employee of the regiment says that such an order was not recieved.
He was killed
They fought between Martuni Seconf and Karmir Shuka. It was such a place from where 99% did not come back. My son died right there on October 25. The blow was from the back side of the head, the rest was normal, there are traces of shrapnels only on the legs. He did the calculations himself, they say, while others wanted to do the calculations, Khachik was shooting: he had already calculated.
They say that the incident took place during hot battles. My son was an artilleryman, he was a senior battery officer. We had found a boy, he was telling that they had escaped from one “Bayraktar”, the other one had hit. That very day we learned: when we asked that boy how he was found so quickly, he told us that the ambulance was standing up there and watching. And I am very curious what ambulance was waiting for while standing by.
In the end, the fiercest fight took place in Karmir Shuka. Now the Russians are passing themselves through that section to Shushi: they wanted to take that line so that it would not be an obstacle.
We after Khachik
(The grandmother) There was kindness, humanity, courage and bravery in him. We are in a very bad situation now. Both mother and father, and I, all of us can not eat a piece of bread without looking at his picture.
The mother is an offspring of General Silikov, that’s why her blood was in Khachik’s veins; he fought so heroically and died heroically, and the state does not appreciate it. Why didn’t they come to console the mother who lost her son till this day?
(The father) They sent a medal of military service. This state did not appreciate my child much: it was a pity my child died this state.
Ani Torosyan