Matad Babayan, who is in Azerbaijani captivity, called his family from Baku on October 30. “He calls once a week or once a fortnight. There are times when we wait longer for him to call,” Babayan’s grandson, Alen, told Forrights.am.
According to family members, Madat Babayan, who has been in Azerbaijani captivity for more than a year, speaks very little, the content of the conversation is asking each other how they are and asking for necessary things. “He doesn’t talk much, he says, ‘Send me a warm hat, I want a hat, it’s cold here. I’m fine, how are you?’” that’s the main content of the last conversation.
The conversation lasts a few minutes, up to three minutes. “They hang up when we ask anything else. For example, we asked, ‘Are you alone? How many people are there; are you okay?’ They disconnected,” said Alen Babayan.
The Red Cross gave the family a list, which indicated what they would send from Armenia to Azerbaijan: mainly dry food in the form of sweets. “We buy what is listed, we cannot buy things outside of the list. We take it to the Red Cross to be delivered to grandfather. It is mainly food, warm clothes, sweets,” says Alen and notes that they do not know whether the contents of the parcel reach grandfather in full or not.
This time he wanted a warm hat; they will buy and send it to gim. Last time he wanted shoes. The shoes that arrived from Armenia to the Azerbaijani prison cell had been changed: grandfather had said they were too small, the family was surprised.
“We do not know whether he will get everything or not. “Once he asked for shoes, we sent them two sizes bigger than he wanted, but then we talked and he said they were small: we were describing different shoes and he was describing totally different ones. It’s okay, let it be so, just let the things reach him. We believe that our grandfather will come back, because he is innocent, he did not participate in any genocide,” said Alen.
72-year-old Madat Babayan first contacted his family from Baku on October 9, 2023. Before that, the family had no information about him: they had searched for him everywhere, even among the dead. “At first, they spoke Azerbaijani, my grandmother didn’t understand them and passed the phone to my mother. They started speaking Russian with my mother, and then they gave the phone to my grandfather. He asked in Russian, “Have I called Madat Babayan’s family?” My mother said yes, and then my grandfather started speaking,” said Alen Babayan. Madat Babayan is from the village of Getavan in Artsakh. On September 19, when the Azerbaijanis attacked civilians, the village was deserted. By 8 p.m., the village had already come under enemy control. Madat Babayan’s family, like the others, was forcibly displaced from the village. During that time, Madat decided to wander around the village, see what was happening… he went and never returned.
“As soon as the war started, our people gathered together to understand what the whole people would do. Then it was decided that the residents should be taken out of the house, he told his grandfather, “I’ll go and see what’s going on in the village, what’s new, and come back.” He went and didn’t return, but the shooting got louder and louder, people left, my grandfather stayed. I think, they have entered the village and captured him. Maybe, he saw the Azerbaijanis, thought they were the Russians, approached, and they took him. I don’t know. He was sick, he was often in pain; maybe he was huddled somewhere, they came and took him. Anything could have happened. We didn’t have any information since we left the village until October 9. My uncle was giving blood DNA tests to see if he was among the victims, but we couldn’t find any match. We thought he might be in captivity, but then we thought he’s been a shepherd his whole life, he knew every corner, every stone of the of the village; he couldn’t be in captivity. We were expecting him to appear from somewhere,” said Alen.
Azerbaijan accuses Madat Babayan of the so-called “Khojalu genocide” in 1992. After his capture, the Azerbaijani security service released a video in which the elderly and defenseless Artsakh resident is handcuffed and surrounded by masked Azerbaijanis. In this propaganda video, Babayan, according to Baku, “shows the areas where he committed the genocide.” The family considers this a false accusation.
“My grandfather is accused of committing the Khojaly genocide in 1992. It is said that this short man killed 150 people and buried them all, but this man did not know what the word weapon meant; he was a sick man. His main occupation was cattle breeding,” said Alen Babayan.
Forrights.am also spoke with Babayan’s wife, who we will present in our next publication.
Narek Kirakosyan