Gevorg Arshakyan Fought Against 150 Enemy Special Forces with Friends and Died. Why Are Official Sources Silent?

On September 27, on the very first day of the war, 29-year-old Gevorg Arshakyan received a notification from the military commissariat and went to the front lines. Together with the mobilization group, they fought in Jabrail until mid-October, after which they received orders to return home. Gevorg's friend, Armen Mkrtchyan, shared with Lurer.com that Gevorg received another notification and, this time, returned to the same battalion in the N military unit in Armavir.

However, on November 26, they were ordered to secure the Lachin corridor. “They were supposed to guard our borders in Lachin to prevent enemy movements until the Russian peacekeepers could establish their positions. After that, they were directed to Hadrut to defend the positions at Hin Tagher and Khtsaberd. They were together with three fellow villagers; the platoon made up of 11 soldiers took on stopping the 'Vishki' position,” Armen explains.

Gevorg and his fellow soldiers were scheduled to be replaced on December 10, but issues arose, revealing that there had been a verbal agreement to hand over two villages. On the evening of December 11, at 8:00 PM, fighting broke out. They were all ordered to retreat, but as they were on a mountain, they had no opportunity to do so and were surrounded on all sides. They did not surrender and engaged in battle with the enemy. No one came to their aid; on the contrary, they themselves defended the rear so that 200 soldiers could retreat. The enemy even released videos showing how they ascended the same mountain and captured those positions. Approximately nine of them inflicted around 150 enemy casualties, and they fought against a group of Turkish special forces,” says Armen.

The boys' bodies were handed over to their relatives on December 16. Armen mentions that, according to conversations, the bodies were handed over by a senior enemy official’s order. He stated that this heroic battle was conducted by nine men and that they should be handed over like heroes.

Family members cannot understand why their son and other heroic boys were sent there; why the Defense Army requested soldiers from the Ministry of Defense and sent them to defend the positions. There’s hope that answers to these questions will emerge sooner or later.

“The remaining 200 are avoiding us, whether out of shame or guilt, we do not know. The state also does not provide any answers or clarifications,” Armen emphasized in an interview with the media.

No official sources have reported anything about the deaths of Gevorg and the other eight heroic soldiers. There was only one news release that did not specify the reasons for their deaths, when, and where it happened.

The nine heroes were posthumously awarded the Medal of Courage; however, this was not handed to their relatives personally by the Ministry but sent to the Armavir regional governor’s office.

Gevorg was from the village of Mrgashat in Armavir province. He was studying in the master’s program at the Yerevan State Academy of Fine Arts. He had achieved numerous successes in painting and also wrote poetry. Gevorg was not married and despised hypocrisy and injustice.

During the battle, Gevorg wrote down the Lord's Prayer and his full name on a piece of paper and kept it in his pocket, thinking that if his body became unrecognizable, they would understand that it was him.

Gevorg is buried in the village of Mrgashat.