60-year-old Mikael (Gago) Beglaryan is one of the 21 people who went missing after the gas station explosion in Stepanakert last September. Although the first anniversary of the events will soon pass, his wife still hopes that her husband will appear one day.
“He always said: what will happen after so many wars? My husband dedicated his whole life to the motherland. Every time he was miraculously saved, every time he got out of a tight spot. He had medals, including those for the liberation of Bravery and Shushi Liberation. He was registered in the Veterans Association. During the first war, he was 24 years old, he was wounded in the leg and arm. We were not married then. We got married in 1997, after 13 years of waiting we had David. We had big plans: we had to raise the child and make him reach his goal,” says the wife, Liana.
The last time her son Davit spoke with his father. “He called and said he was going to buy gasoline. He said tell mom that I will come to pick you up. That day, he tried to find gas in several places, but failed. In the end, he said: whatever happens, I have to find fuel and get out of here… Then we learned about the gasoline explosion. I called him, the calls went through, but there was no answer, two hours later he became unreachable.”
According to the woman, there is no news from him until now and none of his belongings have been found. He had lots of documents with him and his phone, a gold chain…: none of his things have been found. No identification was obtained by DNA testing either. We don’t know anything, all we know is that they went with five people, one of those five people was found and buried, two of them – father and son – were found, the other two are missing.”
The first period of the siege of Artsakh was also very difficult for the family. Davit was among those Artsakh children who arrived in Armenia to participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and could not return home for a long time due to the blockade of Artsakh.
“The children stayed in a hotel in Yerevan for 47 days. He was very upset. They took interviews from him, he said, ‘Mom, dad, I miss you.’
We talked to David on the phone every day, but we felt how difficult it was for him. Then, with great difficulty, the children were allowed to return to Artsakh… The child came to the family, but he was under terrible stress. They took some of the children to a psychologist, my son did not want to go. He was with his dad all the time, they were engaged in various things. The last time they went to collect walnuts. They used to go to my brother-in-law’s place, spend time there… imagine how hard the loss of her father was for him,” says Liana.
According to the woman who lost her husband, she and her son were among the last to leave Stepanakert, because they waited until the last moment for news about Beglaryan. “They [the Azeris] had already filled the city, we met Azerbaijanis in the city several times. It’s true, they didn’t say anything to us, but it was already dangerous.”
Liana, her son and mother now live on rent in Yerevan. She works in two places, tries to make sure that her son has at least a little sense of security after so many hard feelings.
“My son attends boxing now. His father dreamed that he would excel in such a sport and called him Champion. In addition, my son has entered the Polytechnic College. Now I feel a great responsibility for my son and taking care of him only gives me strength. I am trying to fill the place of his father. Many people helped us from the very first days after the forced displacement. I am grateful to everyone who gave me strength, especially in the beginning, because the first two months I was in a very bad condition, I was exhausted… And, we are still waiting for news about my husband. Different people say different things. We have applied to the Human Rights Council, the Red Cross, different places, but there is no answer to any question… Several times he came to my dreams, sitting wounded, constantly complaining, saying: I am alive, you don’t think about me…”.
Ani Gevorgyan