‘Those boys were not captured from their homes; let the commanders who fled from our children be held accountable,’ says mother of fallen serviceman

If prisoners of war are being interrogated, then why aren't the commanders who fled from 18-year-old soldiers being held accountable? This was stated by Naira Margaryan, the mother of fallen hero Jirayr Margaryan, during an interview with ‘Patsininfo,’ expressing her anger over statements made by the President of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan, regarding the prisoners of war.

It should be noted that a video featuring Alen Simonyan was published on Telegram channels, in which he accuses Armenian POWs in Baku of dropping their weapons and surrendering to the enemy. He states in the recording, “I consider those prisoners to no longer exist; they do not exist for me.”

Naira Margaryan raises the question of why no one has been held accountable in the past year. “The commanders who fled from beside our children have been awarded general ranks and high medals. How do we understand this? I have spoken with returned prisoners of war who were captured under difficult conditions. The Turk who captured them didn’t say he would provide them with a good life, so they would value that life more highly. We know from videos how they behave in a humiliating way towards the children,” she emphasized.

Naira Margaryan believes that all governments over the past 30 years bear responsibility for not equipping the army, as this was not merely a battle of weapons, and the boys did not have the means to fight against drones.

The mother of the fallen serviceman expressed a desire to see all guilty parties held accountable before the prisoners of war are interrogated. “So far, no one has been held accountable for leaving the bodies of fallen servicemen on the floor of the Abovyan morgue. Nikol Pashinyan initially said that the prisoners would wait even two months and that they would be forgiven. He stated before the elections that he would return his son and our prisoners, but now he has hardened his stance, and we do not even have a prisoner there. It is unacceptable to speak about the prisoners of war in such a manner after the mental suffering of the parents. Those boys were not captured from their homes,” said Naira Margaryan.

Her son, Jirayr Margaryan, was killed on October 15 in Jabrail. His body was retrieved from that area on December 11, but it was only given to the parents nine months later, which Naira connects to the negligent work of relevant bodies. It was only after providing DNA samples three times that a match occurred, and on July 19, Naira was given her son’s body.

“One of the first returned POWs was among the children who served with my son. He told me that he personally saw that my son had fallen. He had only been a serviceman for two months and was killed by a sniper's fire. He continuously helped to evacuate injured soldiers from the battlefield. The enemy noticed him and fired. My son fell; they thought he was dead, but he was alive. He gathered a little strength and got up to see how his injured friend was doing, and at that moment, a sniper shot him in the head,” said Naira Margaryan.

The last time Naira spoke with her son was just hours before the incident. Before the 44-day war, they lived in the Kashatagh region but moved on October 23.