The 23-year-old Taguhi became a widow in 2023 as a result of the September One-Day War, and then lost her birthplace, home and entire property. Now, for the sake of her one-year-old son, she is trying to find a way out of the uncertainty. The wife of the deceased soldier was born in Mokhratagh village of Martakert region of NK. During her student years, she met her future husband, Lavrent Hayriyan from Martakert.
“During the first meeting, Lavrent admitted that he was captivated by my smile and immediately fell in love. At that time, I was a student at “Grigor Narekatsi” University in Stepanakert, and during that time I met Lavrent and then got engaged. We had decided to get married in 2020, but the 44-Day War that started on September 27 disrupted all our plans. Lavrent was included in the defense of combat positions. After the ceasefire, Lavrent decided that we should get married without a wedding ceremony, and I argued that I wanted to celebrate a little, of course, without music. The general situation in Artsakh was still not encouraging, but we got married on December 14 of the same year,” Taguhi excitedly recalled.
The newlyweds initially lived on rent, then with the help of relatives they built a house so that they could have children and live happily. Lavrent longed to have a son and always told his wife that they should have many sons. The young couple waited 2 years for the birth of their first son. In the difficult conditions of the siege, all off the relatives brought whatever food they were able to obtain to the pregnant woman. Her husband was in positions, and the situation was getting worse day by day. Their first child, Karen, was born in the conditions of a complete siege and brought great joy to the family with his birth.
“At the end of August, Lavrent went to defensive positions with alert number 1. I asked him not to go, the child was little, we needed to spend time together. After a week, he returned, but at the beginning of September he left again, only to leave the positions on September 14. There was a communication problem and he could hardly call. I couldn’t find my place; I was very restless. He did not come at the appointed time, and only on September 18 he somehow managed to call and we talked for a long time. At around 5 o’clock in the morning on September 19, he wrote: “Why don’t you sleep?” I wrote that our son does not let me to sleep. He wrote that he missed the child very much. He never got to spend much time with his son: he was always in positions. That was our last conversation and I still can’t forget that there was nothing to eat in the position; he was hungry and had to drink sweet tea he didn’t like,” said the 24-year-old widow in tears.
Continuing to recall the tragedy of the past year, Taguhi mentioned that on the afternoon of September 19, her mother-in-law alerted her that a war had started. They immediately went down to the basement. They didn’t hear from Lavrent; there was no connection, people were running here and there in terror.
“We asked everyone who entered the basement if they hadnews from the positions of Yeghnikner. No one had any information. Many people’s husbands came or passed on information, but there was no news from Lavrent. At night, he finally managed to call and tell that everything was fine. We felt a little relieved and went home in the morning to return to the basement of the hospital again in the evening. When we reached the medical facility, we heard the sounds of crying. We approached; there was a commotion. We were informed that Lavrent’s sister’s husband, Roba, was killed, and my husband was wounded. I somehow put my son to sleep, and was waiting for them to bring my injured husband. But I didn’t feel well, I was shaking. They gave me medicine to relax. Suddenly I heard a loud, yelling voice. I immediately went upstairs… It turned out that my mother-in-law was screaming bitterly as she was informed that her son was dead. And I was frozen: I couldn’t speak or move, and when my mother came, only then I couldn’t hold back and cried loudly,” Taguhi presented.
From 2015 to 2023 Lavrent Hayriyan was a contract soldier. During the One Day War, he was in one of the positions called Yeghnikner. The 26-year-old sniper fell in the hot battles of September 20, 2023.
On the days of the deportation, the bodies of Lavrent and other victims from Martekert were transported to Stepanakert, and from there to Armenia. According to Taguhi, they too, like others, were forced to take the path of deportation and left Artsakh on the day of moving her husband’s body. On the way, on September 27, their son turned 3 months old. After suffering a lot of hardships, they somehow reached Yerevan and buried her husband in the “Yerablur” military pantheon. Now, seven people live in a two-room [one bedroom] apartment in Charentsavan. After the death of her husband, her sister-in-law lives with them too. Both men were killed on the same day. Young widows are in a state of uncertainty, along with their pain and loss, they have employment problems and cannot imagine their future.
Zara Mayilyan