Norayr would come back home today. And chances are that his friends would surround him in a circle and he would dance in the center, just like he did on the day he went to the army. Today the Gasparyans wait for a knock at the door every moment. Their son died, but the parents do not lose their hope that one day he may knock at the door, they will open and he will come in with a smile on his face.
Norayr danced his last dance on April 2, then he sat in the tank and went to war.
Noro smiles in all photos
Kapan is a big city. Norayr Gasparyan’s house is in a far corner of the city. Very few people know the location of the lane named after A. Manukyan or even the Kapan bakery, but if you ask where April war hero Norayr’s house is, everyone will immediately answer.
It is not war that made Norayr famous in this city. Before that he was already well-known in his hometown. As I walked in the streets of Kapan talking to the citizens, they characterized him as a patriot, a smiling and talented young man, whose passion was dance.
From the balcony of Norayr Gasparyan’s house one can see the beautiful view of Kapan.
The little dog that Norayr’s brother bought for the hero lied on the floor.
Norayr’s mother took me into the hero’s bedroom, showed me his little toys, souvenirs, statuettes, adding that girls had given those to Norayr.
“He was loved by everyone, absolutely everyone,” said his mother, Nune Atajanyan. His father Zhora Gasparyan added, “ He got on well with everyone, irrespective of what kind of person was standing in front of him. Noro was busy all the time, he was busy with his art, all restaurant workers knew him, he was a very interesting person.”
Noro had various plans. When he served in the Armed Forces, his father, mother and elder brother worked in Russia. As a result of Noro’s requests, they returned to homeland. “ I didn’t see him off to the Army, the last time I saw him, he said, “Dad, when I come back, you’ll see what great things we will do.”
And I said that we would help him with everything”. The mother recalled, “Noro called me and asked why we stayed in Russia. He told us to come to Armenia, to rent a house, to live in Yerevan, that he would enter the university there. He told me, “Mom, take a two-room flat, my dance floor friends will come and thus we will be together.”
Dance was everything for Noro, he danced since he was 10. As his relatives say, he was awarded the “Honored Artist” title.
Before going to war Noro danced his last dance
Noro called his brother on April 2, at 4:30 AM, and said, “It is war, the situation is bad, don’t tell mother and father, if it is necessary, I will give my head for you,” said his brother Misha Gasparyan. Noro was a tanker, a commander.
“He dances before going into the tank, yes, he dances for the last time, turns his hat, gives an order and goes to war,” said his mother. She added that the tank under Noro’s command fought well in the battlefield.
“They say that they hit a drone, 2 tanks. But as they were coming back a drone hit them and the tank burned,” she said.
“Everything has a beginning and an end”
“Everything has a beginning and an end, but this is not the case of that full stop, a comma should be put, so as to continue going down the path we have taken,” this was Noro’s last note on his social network account.
If this war never happened Noro would continue to love, help his family members, we would hear about him again and we would hear a lot… But the war put a full stop in his life.
Noro died at the age of 20. He died as a hero.
Gevorg Tosunyan
