Two Days Before the Incident We Talked, He Said There Was a Dispute: Father of Soldier Who Died in Fire

It has been 9 days since the daily noise has silenced in one of the courtyards of Metsamor, the neighborhood of Hayk, one of the victims of a tragic fire. The Kirqoyans sent Hayk to the army last winter. After serving five months in Vardenis, he was transferred to Azat village to the engineering troops. After the September battles, Hayk was assigned duties as a senior sapper. This is reported by News.am.

After relocating to Azat village, the family visited Hayk several times but did not enter the barracks. They learned from their son that the soldiers themselves had created minimal living conditions for themselves, laying water pipes with their own resources and securing the open electrical wires. They also know that one of the parents had sent the boys a washing machine.

Hayk had not complained about his service in the days leading up to the tragic incident. Only in one of his last conversations with his father did he mention that there had been a serious incident between two servicemen and a commander named Gorg. “Two days before the incident, we spoke, and he said there was a dispute, a conversation had taken place, and about four days prior to that, military police had come for an inspection, having found phones with soldiers. I can’t say much, but it was said that there was a conversation about their commander, who probably clarified to whom everything belonged, and they hit each other. He said he didn’t know what to do, so he grasped his weapon and ran left and right to break it up. He told me he caught Gorg from behind and pulled him away to another place,” said Hayk’s father, Gabriel Kirqoyan, in an interview with NEWS.am.

Hayk's family does not know Gorg's last name or rank. Hayk only mentioned that Gorg was a platoon commander. He had never complained about him, saying he treated them well. However, after that incident, Hayk told his father that he wanted to be transferred, that he could no longer continue service in the same place.

“You can’t say he might be a very good person, have a conflict with someone, and be so foolish as to treat so many kids … I don’t want to believe it … he emphasized that in every conversation over those two days, saying, ‘Grandpa, it’s not good here,’” highlighted Gabriel Kirqoyan.

Hayk never spoke about the captain who is blamed for the careless deaths of 15 soldiers. They were shocked to learn that a captain had been with the boys in the barracks. “I didn’t even know there was a captain there with them; I thought it was Gorg because he would stay until late hours, leaving and coming back. We also, those who didn’t have duties, would sleep, and the others would set their clocks to wake up. I didn’t even know a captain was staying with them. Hayk always talked about Gorg, saying he was 28 years old; that I remember, but I don’t know specifically who he is,” added Gabriel Kirqoyan.

On the day of the tragedy, Hayk was supposed to have military duty from around 2 to 4 a.m. He had been awake until at least 12:30, speaking on the phone with his cousin and a friend. After the September battles, Hayk had become very sensitive about sleep, having difficulty sleeping; he would wake up at every noise. How could he not sense that the fire was approaching them? How could he not wake up from the shouts?

His parents do not believe the initial official version of their son’s death, and even in their own analyses, they are getting entangled. How could a commander, entrusted with the lives of two dozen soldiers, not know that pouring gasoline into a stove would lead to a fire? Why did the stove burst into flames at a time when the boys were already asleep if they were asleep? Why were the boys found dead on their beds wearing vests and military shoes, especially when Hayk often mentioned that the bedroom was small and hot? Why was the bedroom door locked, as indicated by one of the soldiers who survived the fire in an interview with one media outlet? How could it happen that more than ten trained boys could not break down the door? Whom did the injured soldier run to if officially, 14 boys were found lifeless on their beds?

These questions only lead Hayk’s parents into a dead end, but one thing is clear: what happened was intentional. “They either put the kids to sleep or poisoned them; they were no longer there, and to cover their tracks, they organized the fire. I have so many questions that I cannot understand what happened. Only the perpetrator and the kids know that. I even think that the kids might have known something regarding their situation, were scared that they might unveil everything, and they eliminated the kids. I don’t believe any hypotheses. They killed them,” remarked Hayk’s mother, Armineh Aghakhanyan during our interview.

One week after the incident, no officials from the Ministry of Defense have visited Hayk’s family.