“Let’s pledge that no one has fallen, we must go home.” Minutes after these words, Zhora was killed

27-year-old Zhora Dallakyan was a contract soldier. During the war, he fought in Karvachar and then in Shushi. “He was holding the positions in the Chambarak area, during the war he was transferred to Karvachar and then to Vardenis. He came home on November 6 and was moved to Shushi that same night,” Zhora’s father, Solomon Dallakyan, recounts in an interview with Lurer.com.

Zhora’s brother, Saro, was also on the front lines during the war, and the two brothers fought together in Shushi. “The battles in Shushi were intense; Zhora said, ‘Let’s go and finish the war.’ Everything was disorganized, even during the fighting the troops were scattered,” says Solomon.

During those days, Zhora rarely called home; his relatives last spoke with him on November 8. Although his heroic brother was also in Shushi, they were not together that day. In Zhora’s last call, the first and only question was about his brother: “I said that Saro hadn’t called, and he said, ‘We’re in a good place, but I’m worried about Saro,’” Zhora’s father notes.

Solomon remembers that after Zhora’s call, Saro also called and asked about his brother; however, the two siblings were later able to get in touch with each other. “Saro jan, there’s no opportunity to talk, but we’re fine, be careful,” Zhora had said.

Although Zhora did not like to make pledges, that day he told his brother, “Let’s pledge that no one has fallen; we must go home...” Friends in the military recounted that just a few minutes after disconnecting the call, around 16:30, Zhora was hit by a tank shell. He fell in Shushi like a hero.

His friends kept the news of Zhora’s death a secret from his brother, and Saro found out through conversations with their friends. Two days after his death, on November 10, Zhora’s body was handed over to his family.

Zhora had recently gotten married, and soon his first child, Armin, was to be born. His father says that Zhora was confident that we would win this war. Zhora loved to sing and play music, and although he had a different profession as an electric welder, he had not worked in that specialty. His love for military service drove him to become a contract soldier. In their village of Getik, everyone knows Zhora as a good and kind person.