“The last time I saw my son was at the military commissariat,” mother Eliza Shahnazaryan told within the ” Immortal Victims of the Artsakh War” series of Iravaban.net, talking about Edgar Baghumyan, who was drafted into the army on 10 July, 2020, and was immortalized in the 44-day war of 2020.
“I had a feeling that my son is going to the army, and finally I will be a soldier’s mother as well, because being a soldier is sacred, a soldier is everything for the motherland. My dream was for my son to be a soldier, a handsome soldier, he became a handsome soldier,” his mother says.
According to Mrs. Eliza, her son was the unsatisfying type. They couldn’t even go to his swearing-in ceremony because of COVID.
“The restrictions were already lifted, on 26 September, Saturday, we decided that we should go to see him. I called Edgar, he said: “Mom, please do not come, we are going to military exercises for an indefinite period of time.” We did not go as he requested. I didn’t realize the seriousness of the moment, he called and said he was on duty. But I heard that it seems to be in the forest. He skillfully soothed us so well that we did not even suspect where he might be,” his mother recalls.
From 27 September to 1 October, Edgar’s relatives did not hear from him. On 1 October, on his mother’s birthday, he called, as his mother says, for only 4 seconds.
“He called every two or three days, he said: we are far away, we are in a safe place, but the artilleryman could not be in the focus of the war. The captured Hadrut was also under siege. He said, “Mom, this Karabakh is such a beautiful place that is why they fight so much.” Artsakh became a dream for me, I hope one day I will go to Edgars Artsakh, I have loved Artsakh through the eyes of my son,” Mrs. Eliza says.
She states that during the days of the war, when she talked to her son, she felt that he was no longer her 18-year-old son, his mother talked to an older, mature Edgar. The boy was wounded in the neck. He was brought to Yerevan by helicopter in a very serious condition, but his life was not saved.
“My Edgar reached us thanks to the commander. We learned that he was injured, he was bleeding a lot. He stayed in Stepanakert. Then the ambulance driver from Armenia saw Edgars suffering. The driver told me: we stole Edgar from there, and somehow we brought him to Goris. In Yerevan, he took 3 deep breaths and closed his eyes,” his mother says.
Details in the video.
Hasmik Sargsyan
