“Those were cruel days, cruel!” says forcibly displaced Yervand Danielyan, sitting next to the pictures of his son and son-in-law. Yervand’s son Eduard and son-in-law Grisha were killed during the war of September 19, 2023. Eduard served in the military unit called Yeghnikner (Deers), Grisha – in Omar.
“He was Edo of Yeghnikner. He loved the service. He was a sniper. After he finished the service, he decided to join the contract service,” says the father in a conversation with Forrights.am, recalling with what enthusiasm the boy joined the miiltary service.
Eduard died while trying to help his friend from another position. “The connection in positions has been lost. Eduard went to the side position to get information from his friends, but a drone noticed and shot him.”
Parents last spoke to Eduard on September 18. The father, Yervand Danielyan, who was also a soldier, has felt that his son was killed while himself was in the positions.
“I felt that my son was no more. 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, his words drowning in tears.
The father found his son in the morgue operating in the basement of Martakert hospital. “They said that there were a lot of victims, but only Edo was recognizable. The head of the hospital came and said: all the parents that are here, take your sons’ bodies, bury them: the children are losing their appearance and there is no place [to keep the bodies], it’s a very bad situation. I can’t control myself, because my son has been there for a day already.”
Yervand Danielyan describes situations that are hard to even imagine. “There was no coffin, 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 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 of time, Yervand Danielyan decided to bury his son. “I made a decision to take him to my father’s side in the cemetery of our village: we would place him next to his grandfather. The next day I learned that we have to leave the village. I went up in the village head’s car to say goodbye to Edo. I said: Edo, I’m sorry to leave you, I can’t take you with me. They deceived me, they deceived me… I said goodbye and left,” he says.
The pain of Yervand Danielyan displaced from Maghavuz village of Martakert egion of NK is inexplicable. He was able to move only his son’s photos from his native village to Nor Artamet.
Yervand Danielyan now lives in the hope that it will be possible to move his son’s body from the Maghavuz cemetery of NK to the Yerablur military pantheon in Yerevan. He has been living with that hope for seven months, not forgiving himself for leaving his son in the village occupied by the enemy. He says that if he had been informed a few hours earlier about the forced displacement from Artsakh, he would not have left his son there. He is waiting every day for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the representative office of Artsakh to convey a positive news regarding the transfer of his son’s body.
“They have been promising to bring it since October. We inquired the Red Cross, they said they will bring him. I’ve already despaired: it would have been better if they didn’t say they were going to bring him, than to promiss and not bring it. The Red Cross will say that they will bring it, and in the Artsakh representative office they said, “Stay calm, there is an agreement.” We were a little relieved that they gave us hope, but it’s been seven months and they still say wait,” says the father who lost his son.
Eduard’s father was told that Azerbaijan was failing the negotiations [of body transfer]. “They don’t let them go in and bring them. And once they said that the parents should also go to show the place of burial precisely. Then they said that we should show them on the Google Map. So, we went, showed them on the map, left, came back. They called 10 days ago and said there is no news.”
Narek Kirakosyan