The area allocated for the grave of Gor Gevorgyan, who died while defending his country, has become a cause of controversy. He was buried in the cemetery of Mayravan district of Hrazdan city. One of the residents claims that the area is his property: however, Gor’s relatives say the opposite, that the area belongs to the community and is intended for burials.
Gor’s father, Gevorg Gevorgyan, is distressed. He says to Forrights.am, how it is possible that the grave of a boy who died while protecting the land became the subject of such a dispute. According to him, one of the residents of the district, who now lives elsewhere, planted trees in an illegal area years ago, built a house, fenced and tied a dog in the area, and now he does not allow the residents to do funerals in that area, nor to cross the road to reach their homes, the graves of their loved ones.
“The cemetery is a person’s second home after his/her death. He tells me to bury my child on the upper part of the land, but why should he say say anything? Who is he, is he the decision maker? I came on the seventh day and saw that he put metal block on my son’s grave. It is completely illegal; he has no documents. Everyone says that this is the land of the community, but he reported everyone to the police,” says the father and draws the attention of the relevant authorities. Gevorg Gevorgyan fears that not solving the problem legally may have irreversible consequences.
“My son’s grave must remain here, but I am afraid that tomorrow when I place a stone, he will come and destroy it. If he does something like that, what should I do? My son is my sacredness,” he said.
Gevorg Gevorgyan, pointing to the road leading to the cemetery, which was established by the community authorities, says that fellow citizen regularly blocks the road. “He poures stones on the road, blockes it, puts fences, does not allow people to visit the graves of their loved ones,” he said.
33-year-old Gor Gevorgyan was killed during the military operations that began on September 13, 2022. He joined the military service in 2019 as a contract worker. The father told that he was in Karvachar during the 44-day war; when this region was handed over to Azerbaijan, Gor was transferred to Jermuk and continued his service there. He came home a few days before the battles of September 13, 2022, but was called back less than five days later. “They called at 01:30 am.”
Gevorg told Forrights.am that he wanted to go to the border with his son as a volunteer, but Gor did not allow him. However, the father reached Jermuk on the evening of September 14. He said that his son was killed on September 14, after the ceasefire was announced at 20:00.
” I learned that Gor is no more at dawn of September 15. I was going to the positions, but they were already bringing down the bodies. Not a single person from the entire battalion was saved. There were 125 people, all of them died, but we brought only three corpses, among which was the body of my Gor, partially,” said the father, noting that he was a member of the Yerkrapah [Landguards’] Volunteers’ Union, they went to help, but they were not allowed to rise to positions sooner.
“We retreated while battling. They reached Jermuk, Khachi Dzor, where the drone hit. They could not withstand: there were no equipment or weapons. There was no helping force. They had to retreat whether they wanted to or not. We were going to help them, but they took us out one day late. There is no state: it is collapsed: so many young children are being killed.”
Gevorg Gevorgyan is a freedom fighter: during any border escalation, a group of freedom fighters go up the positions since the first Artsakh war. When presenting the scene of his son’s death, he draws parallels with the film “Soldier’s Father” made in 1964. The hero of the film, Georgy, learns that his son is injured and goes to help him, but he meets the boy on the battlefield, where he is wounded and dies in his father’s arms. Gevorg Gevorgyan says that he did not get to hug his son, but he saw how the drone hit the area where Gor and his fellow soldiers were.
“Like in the film “The Soldier’s Father”: I went to find my son, but I took my son’s body and brought home,” said the father.
Gevorg Gevorgyan recognized his son by the tattoo on his face and hand. He says that most of the soldiers’ bodies were burned. “We brought three corpses from the positions; what I brought down was barely 50 kg. The middle part of the face and the right arm were in somewhat normal state, the rest was burnt,” said the father.
33-year-old Gor had two children who are asking why the father does not return home. “They ask where is papa, we say he is in the service… in fact, he is.” The son already understands, the flag that we raised on the grave can be seen from the yard: he says every day that it is papa’s flag.”
Soon, Forrights.am will present the position of the Hrazdan Municipality regarding the problems related to the land. So far, we have not been able to contact the citizen who claims to be the owner of the land.
Narek Kirakosyan