Medical service lieutenant Davit Hakobyan was supposed to finish his mandatory military service a few days ago, on September 2, and return home. He was killed on the night of October 24-25, 2020, while transporting wounded soldiers.
Hakobyan was drafted into the army from Ujan village of Aragatsotn district of Armenia. After completing the higher medical education, he joined the service in Martuni 2.
“September 5 was his birthday… But the word birthday has become a different thing for me. It is the day to remember him, his memory. We celebrate the day of death, but what should we name the day of his birth?…” says David’s father, Norayr Hakobyan. According to him, he is unable to describe the two years that have passed since the war, because they were unbearable for any parent with killed children.
“Our wounds don’t heal because they open our wounds every day. Betrayals and the war of defeat…Artsrun Hovhannisyan [the speaker of the Defense Ministry of Armenia] speaks. Thousands of our boys had already died, he says: ‘Welcome to the gorge of hell’. And now he and the others are being aired… the soldiers, the children were being slaughtered under the anti-aircraft guns, and they have already given Jebrayil, they have given Fizuli, they have captured the military unites, we have recently lost the warehouses with new ammunition. Hadrut was occupied, he said ‘I went to Hadrut’. We watched everything from afar and believed in those people… And after all this, the commanders of the territories and military units were given the rank of heroes, they were given the rank of generals.”
During the war, David’s family was in the USA, and that was also the reason why he did not want to tell his relatives the truth about the war. When he called, he said everything was fine. And when his father said that he wanted to return to Armenia and go to the front line, David assured him that the war would stop soon.
«Մեզ ոչինչ չէր պատմում, բայց քրոջը պատմել է, որ տղաները այնքան ձեռք ու ոտք են հավաքել, սարքել են դիակ, դրել են Շտապ օգնության մեքենան: ԱՄբողջ օրը վիրավորների ու զոհերի մեջ են եղել…Էրեխեքն այնքան տառապանք են քաշել, այդ մեկ ամսում հողոտ, արնոտ, սոված, ծարավ…Տղաս վիրավորներին է դրել մեքենան, Վարորդի անունը Սիմոն է:
“He didn’t tell us anything, but he told his sister that the boys collected so many hands and feet, made a corpse, put it in the ambulance. The whole day they were among the wounded and victims…The boys suffered so much, in that one month, they were dirty, covered with blood, hungry, thirsty…My son put the wounded in the car, the driver’s name is Simon.
He tells that there were terrible battles, they bombarded with all possible weapons. There were so many injured that they could not fit all of them in 4-5 cars. They put the wounded in Davit’s car, Davit sat in the back to administer an injection to the soldier who was in serious condition. At that time, the driver opened the door to get into the car, but he heard the sound of the unmanned air vehicle and threw himself aside. David remained in the car with the wounded. The car exploded. The incident happened on the Martuni-Fizuli road,” tells Norayr Hakobyan.
Ani Gevorgyan