When Mkhitar was born, I was 22 years old, it was a new beginning of life for me. Garik Mkhitaryan, the father of Mkhitar Mkhitaryan, who was immortalized in the 44-day Artsakh war, told about this within the ” Immortal Victims of the Artsakh War ” series of Iravaban.net .
Mkhitar was the eldest of the four brothers. He was born in 2002. He was drafted into the army on 31 August, 2020. He was a recruit for only 27 days when the enemy unleashed the war against Artsakh, targeting the civilian population as well.
According to the father, his son, who was immortalized in the battle, had big plans for the future.
“He was the savior of people all his life, if someone was in trouble, he would definitely be the first one to go there. That is why I had no idea that life would be so cruel,” the father says.
Mkhitar had health problems, that was why he left for service on the last day of the draft.
“At the last moment, he himself stood up and said: I have to go to the service, do not disturb me,” Mkhitar’s father remembers.
The mother, Ruzanna Mkhitaryan, says with tears in her eyes that it is very bad to send the boy to the army, because he was not ready. “After hours, we realized that he should leave in the morning.”
Mkhitar spent his service in Jrakan. Due to the restrictions of Covid, the parents did not even participate in the swearing-in ceremony of their son. They have only one photo from that day, which was sent to them from the military unit.
The mother spoke with the boy on 27 September, 2020.
“Mom, it is war, but we are going to a safe place. But that very day he called his friend and said, “Your brother is going to war.” He informed only his friend. He said that it is safe, everything is normal. Indeed, we did not feel at all that he was on the battlefield and we were sure that the 27-day recruit could not be on the front line. His last call was on 4 October, before that on October 2, he called in tears and said that his classmate Hakob was killed,” his mother says.
Garik Mkhitaryan says that his son told him when talking to him: “Don’t worry, father, everything will be fine, we are strong, we will win.”
During another telephone conversation with his mother, Mkhitar could not hide that he was on the battlefield.
“At that moment I heard the sound of shots. I shouted, ‘Mkhitar, hide’, he said, ‘Mom, there is no place to hide’,” the mother remembers the last conversation with her son.
According to the mother, her son and his comrades in arms fought for five hours.
“Then one of their commanders, Andranik Aghajanyan, was injured, and they were sent to take him out of the battlefield. They approached with boys to take the commander out, and at that moment 8 boys were killed, along with their commander, from the enemy’s strike,” Mkhitar’s parents told.
Garik Mkhitaryan went to Artsakh to find the body of his dead son, negotiated with the enemy, and finally, two months after the boy’s death, he managed to get his body out of the territory occupied by the enemy.
Details in the video.
