We Are Dying Slowly in Ignorance and Uncertainty: Parent of Missing Soldier

During the 44-day war in Artsakh in 2020, the youngest son of the Avdalyan family, Shavarsh, received a summons from the military commissariat. "He had received a pavestka (military notice), reported in, and was taken first to Ejmiatsin, then to Meghri, Kapan, and finally on October 21, they were taken to Zangelan by buses and handed over to the enemy," recounts his father, Barsegh Avdalyan. This is reported by “Hetq.”

From the first days of the war, Shavarsh Avdalyan from the village of Dalarik and his fellow villager Roodik Aleksanyan left for Ejmiatsin as part of the reserve forces augmenting the RCCPB (Radiation, Chemical, Biological Protection Forces). They were stationed in Kapan since October 14.

On October 20, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Andranik Makaryan, arrived at the Kapan military unit and briefed the command staff about the situation: "Azerbaijani groups have penetrated into the city of Kovsakan, located just a few kilometers away, and we need to go in with several groups to locate and eliminate the enemy units." On the same day, under the code name "Cleaning Operations in the Kovsakan Area," two groups consisting of 62 soldiers were formed. One group was to move towards Nerkin Hand, while the other was directed to Kovsakan (Zangelan).

Shavarsh Avdalyan was in the second group, which left the Kapan military unit at 6 AM on October 21. According to preliminary agreements, the groups were supposed to wait for further orders near an area known as "Kiri Mine," but under unclear circumstances, the group heading toward Kovsakan, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Arsen Abgaryan, moved in three buses toward the school in Kovsakan. At 7 AM, having arrived 500 meters from the school (where an Azerbaijani flag was already flying), they found themselves surrounded and engaged in battle. Of the 62 soldiers, only 22 survived; the rest were either killed, missing, or captured. Shavarsh Avdalyan is listed among the missing.

The surviving commander, Lieutenant Colonel Arsen Abgaryan, told the parents of the missing that he last saw Shavarsh with two comrades behind a mound near the site of the incident, engaged in combat. "General Andranik Makaryan deceived the kids, saying it was a two-hour job, and away they went. They were supposed to stay near the Kiri Mine, conduct reconnaissance, return, but they did not stop; they went in and led the kids into the enemy's mouth. The kids were slaughtered to say that Zangelan was lost in battle, to claim that Nikol did not give it up," says Shavarsh's father.

After the 44-day war in Artsakh, a criminal case was initiated regarding the events that took place on October 21, 2020, in Kovsakan. Four individuals have been implicated as defendants in the criminal case, including the former deputy chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, Andranik Makaryan; the commander of the military unit, Arsen Abgaryan; the head of the military unit's staff, Sarkis Kulakchyan; and the head of the military replenishment department, Ellada Harutyunyan. Andranik Makaryan is accused of inaction during martial law, Arsen Abgaryan is charged with negligence in service and inaction of authority, Sarkis Kulakchyan is accused of assisting inaction of authority, and Ellada Harutyunyan is charged with official forgery.

“We are dying slowly in ignorance and uncertainty, as parents of the missing; it has been two years, and they say nothing, do nothing,” says Shavarsh's mother, Hasmik Avdalyan. The Avdalyan family lives in Dalarik village in the Armavir region, engaging in farming and livestock raising.

“We took out a loan to build a slaughterhouse in the village; the business is under my son Shavarsh's name. Everything is ready; you can open the door and start, but we are not operating, waiting for my son, I believe he will return,” mentions Barsegh Avdalyan.