31-year-old Samvel Tovmasyan was the father of three young children. He was born and raised in Taghavard-Kaler village of Martuni region of NK, which was besieged after the 44-Day War. He died on September 20, 2023, 10 minutes before the ceasefire announcement. His grave remained in Artsakh.
Samvel Tovmasyan’s family lives on rent in Aramus community of Kotayk region of Armenia after being forcibly deported from Artsakh. The mother, Elmira Tovmasyan, says that there are thousands of wounds in her heart, but the biggest one is the loss of her son and now being far from his grave.
“There was a splinter injury. His friend came out but he died. He said: it is our land, we gave so much, we should not give this too. On the 22nd of the month, we buried him in Karmir Shuka. There was no light; it was 21:00 pm. Two days later, they said we had to leave. We did not know what to take with us and what to leave. They said that we should burn the military clothes. They told us not to take the documents, that the machines will take X-rays. We put my son’s military document and medal under the mattress; we didn’t know whether to keep it or burn it… then we left. At that time, Sarushen was already taken. The Turks were standing there with automatic weapons in their hands… I didn’t get to go to his grave. They said that the Turks are already entering… We were very close to each other, he had overcome the difficulties of the 44-Day War, I thought that nothing would happen to him anymore. The worst thing is the loss of one’s child. You are probably getting older by 20 years… they come and tell you to stay strong, you are the mother of a hero… But it is difficult… They say to you to be proud, to hold your head high… but now there is no place to cry… I wish to go, get there, and and say Karabakh does not exist: what did you give your life for?… Karabakh does not exist.”
The mother says that her son was born in 1992, during the bombing of Stepanakert. He was born during the battle, died in the war thirty years later… They say that time heals wounds, but that is a lie: a wound remains a wound, pain remains pain.”
Samvel’s three children still don’t know about their father’s death; they think he is in the service. “The middle child cries a lot, says: ‘I miss papa, I want papa’. She is crying in one room, I am in the other room,” said Mrs. Elmira.
Remembering the anniversary of his son’s death, she says that on that day she and her family went to church. “Where could we go? We don’t have a grave… We took his photo, we put flowers… and we cried.”
Ani Gevorgyan
Ani Gevorgyan is a journalist, photographer, and the winner of the Freedom of Speech Award. She has participated in photo exhibitions at the UN headquarters (New York) and the Geneva office, the Palace of Europe (Strasbourg), Paris, Rome, Berlin, Vienna and elsewhere.