“Those were cruel days, cruel!” says Yervand Danielyan, sitting next to the pictures of the boy and his son-in-law after the forced displacement. His son Eduard and son-in-law Grisha were killed during the September 19 war. Eduard served in Yeghniks military unit, and Grisha — in Omar.
“The co-servers knew him as Edo. He loved the service. He was a sniper. After finishing the service, he decided to join the contract service,” talking to Forrights.am, the father recalls with what enthusiasm his son joined the service.
Eduard (Edo) died while rushing from his position to another position to help his friend. “The connection in positions has been lost. Eduard went to the side position to get information from his friends, but the drone noticed and shot him.”
Parents last spoke to Eduard on September 18. The father, Yervand Danielyan, who is also a soldier, while on duty in the positions, sensed that the boy was killed.
“I felt that my son was gone… I told our commander: ‘My son is no more; my heart feels that something has happened. After a while, the news came…” says Yervand Danielyan and the words get lost in tears.
The father found his son in the morgue in the basement of the Martakert hospital. “They told that there were a lot of victims, but only Edo was recognizable. The head of the hospital came and said: ‘Whoever of the victims has parents here, take and bury your children: the children are losing their appearance. Tere is not enough place, it’s a very bad situation. I can’t control myself, because my son too has been there for a day’…”
Yervand Danielyan describes situations that are hard to even imagine. “There was no coffin to find, nowhere. We came to the village, the boys said that they will find a board and make a coffin. In the morning, we took that coffin with a truck and went to the hospital.”
The father could not make a decision to bury his son for a long time, because they did not say clearly whether they would leave the village or not. Due to the delay, Yervand Dainelyan decided to bury his son.
“I made a decision that I will take my grandfather’s side to the cemetery of our village, we will place him next to his grandfather. The next day I learned that we have to leave the village. I went up in the village mayor’s car to say goodbye to Edo. I said, Edo, I’m sorry to leave, I can’t take you. They deceived me, they deceived me… I said goodbye and went out,” says the father, unable to come to terms with reality.
The pain of Yervand Danielyan displaced from Maghavuz village of Martakert is incomprehensible. The only thing he was able to take with him from his native village to Nor Artamet was only his son’s photos.
The mother, Sonik Danielyan, did not have a chance to say goodbye to her son. “I couldn’t go to the funeral, the Turks had closed the roads, it was open one-way, they didn’t let me enter, I was in Stepanakert,” she said and tells how enthusiastically she was waiting for her son’s return.
“On September 1, we sent Eduard to the positions. He was supposed to come down on the 14th, but he didn’t; they didn’t give him an order to come. He called and said, ‘Mom, I won’t come’. Three days, on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of the month, he talked with us. ‘Mom, what are you doing?’ I said, ‘We are waiting for you.’ He said, ‘I am not coming yet’” .
Eduard’s birthday is on September 8, he turned 21 years old. They celebrated his birthday in the positions.
Danielyan’s 23-year-old son-in-law, Grisha, also died in this war. He served in Omar. Eduard’s father and Grisha’s father met each other by chance in the yard of the morgue and learned that both their sons had died.
Narek Kirakosyan
Narek Kirakosyan
Narek Kirakosyan is a journalist, works on the principle of "a person is an absolute value".