Tigran and Alisa’s life together lasted two months. The happiness of newlyweds from Artsakh was interrupted by the war of September 19. Tigran was in positions since September 12.
“He used to call me every morning when he was in positions. On September 19, he called me later than usual. His voice was sad, he was concerned, but he didn’t tell me that something was happening. We talked longer than usual. He asked a lot of questions about what I was doing. We talked for 5 minutes, we always talked for a minute, but I didn’t risk asking why he was sad,” Alisa told Forrights.am about her last conversation with her husband.
Alisa was at work when the first shots of the war rang out. “I didn’t think it was a war, I didn’t expect it, it seemed to me that demining works were being carried out. When I was going home, I saw that everyone was running with weapons in their hands, a number one alarm was given, but I didn’t call again: I was waiting for him to call. At one o’clock, the sounds of gunshots became stronger. I called, but there was no connection, he neither answered my calls, nor read my messages…” said Alisa.
Along with protecting the homeland, Tigran also thought about the safety of his wife: he called Alisa’s father and asked him not to leave her alone.
“I couldn’t stay in the basement; I kept coming out to find out some information. In the morning, while I was sitting in the church, one of the neighbors said that Marat Petrosyan was killed. He was from the Tigran’s group, I heard his name on the phone, I knew that there were being in positions together, that something had happened with Tigran… But I didn’t want to think that something had really happened to Tigran,” Alisa wanted to pass this information on to the father. “I found my father near the NSS building and saw that my father, Tigran’s father and the NSS employee were standing near the building and that both my father and Tigran’s father were crying. They didn’t need to say anything anymore…”
Tigran Avetisyan was from Askeran. He was 27 years old. Despite his young age, the young man from Artsakh managed to take a heroic path. He has been on the battlefield since the April 2016 War.
During the April 2016 war, Tigran was the commander of the command platoon of the artillery regiment, which according to the rule is held by an officer, not a soldier, and Tigran was a sergeant at that time. He finished his service with the rank of senior sergeant and received the medal of excellent soldier. As soon as the war started on September 27, 2020, the first 13 people from the city of Askeran voluntarily went to the fighting positions. Tigran was among them. Until the end of the war, he fulfilled all the orders given by the command without leaving his combat position. On March 24, 2022, the Azerbaijani aggression towards the Karaglu hill began. Tigran voluntarily participated in the defense of Khanapat village and was on combat duty for 1 month, being awarded the “Tigran Mets” medal. On June 17, 2022, he joined the ranks of the special purpose unit of the National Security Service of Ukraine, receiving the rank of lieutenant.
Tigran also participated in the military operations in Armenia. In September 2022, he voluntarily participated in the battles of Jermuk. On September 19, 2023, being a PK machine gunner, he fought the enemy until the end, going to conscious death, not putting down his weapon. His commanders and fellow soldiers know about the feats performed by Tigran and his friends. According to family members, if there were many such self-sacrificing and patriotic boys like Tigran, the fate of Artsakh might not have ended like this.
Tigran’s patriotism is based on stories of his father, Karen Avetisyan, loving and protecting his motherland. The father says that the boy participated in all the wars and he was by his son’s side, but they were not together only on September 19. “I was sitting in Askeran with the automatic machine in my hand, I didn’t leave, I couldn’t leave the children. He himself was on the top of a height; he saw everything: the accumulations, the movement. He knew what was going to happen. Tigran nad the group were few people, they, the Azeris, were many… Tigran loved his homeland very much,” said the father.
Narek Kirakosyan