After decades, Armenia and Azerbaijan started shooting again. The frozen conflict exploded between April 2-6. According to official data, 97 Armenian soldiers died during this escalation and 31 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in combat, however, independent estimates indicate that this number was three times higher. Most of the soldiers who died during the escalation were born in 1990s, and came from socially vulnerable families. 

“On the first of July, he would have come back. When the time approaches, I feel myself differently... not as before”.

 

“I still cannot accept that he is not with us. He said that when the weather would become warmer, then he will come. Now I am grieving, the weather has become warm but he has not come,” – says the parent of Mushviq Orucov, sighing; he was a soldier who died April 1st in the the cease-fire violation between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

They've seen war before in the 1990s. At that time, when they escaped from Zangilan, Mushviq was not born yet. Born in 1994, in Baku, Mushviq knew about Zangilan from their stories. Moreover, he studied at a school for Zangilan’s IDPs, which was located near their house. His mother says that they lived in the dormitory; the room where they lived was half as small as the current one. Mushviq, together with his sister, prepared for university courses. Aygun Mammadli, the mother of Mushviq, says that in such a tiny and noisy room, he would prepare his lessons, putting the wooden plank on his knees. As a result, Mushviq gained 700 points (the maximum estimate for being accepted into university) and entered into the Azerbaijani Technical University, in the faculty of computer technics. While studying at university, he was working as a waiter in the wedding place.

“When it became hot, he would work from 7 P.M until 7 A.M in an ice-cream factory, and after work, he went off to the university. He wanted to help us. He said that at least he could earn money for the bus fee to go to his university,” says Arif Orucov, the father of Mushviq Orucov.

The family wanted him to get a masters degree, and was hopeful that maybe the law would change and he will get respite from the military service by that time.

“ In our neighborhood 5-6 people served in the military service. He always said that he is older than them and they already served their military service, but only he is left”... “I am ashamed, that he would  serve first, then get a master's degree,” his father mentions.

 

When the parents talk about Mushviq, from time to time, they sit in silence, and this silence continues for quite some length. His mother  wipes the tears from her eyes. The clock on the wall has been stopped. They put Mushviq's photos inside the clock. All around the home, there are photos of a soldier.

Aygun Mammadli says that last time they met in January. They went to Naftalan, where he was serving. “Again he held a book in his hands. He said he was reading it. It taught about how to earn money. I smiled and told him, my dear, we gave you an education, and now you are learning how to earn money, so when you come back, find a job. His profession was so in demand, that as soon as he came back, he would surely find a job at once.” 

The last time his father talked with him was on March 29th. He said that he got the diploma and he will make a copy and send it.

When the ceasefire was violated, the parents thought their son just didn’t have the opportunity to call. On April 4th they got an unexpected call, that Mushviq had died in the fighting. “When all this started, they were sent to the heights of a Talish village in the Tartar region. The situation became calmer, 4 soldiers were sitting together. One of them was sent to bring something, and when he came back, he saw a bomb which had fallen down and everyone died.”

After the death of Mushvig Orujov, he was awarded by a medal “For the sake of the Motherland” .

Rashid Bakhshaliyev was scheduled to finish his military service on April 1, when the violation of the ceasefire started. Instead, he was kept in the military and had to fight.

Rashid’s father, Aliaga Bakhshaliyev mentions, “They did not have the right to keep a soldier whose military service was over. They did not have the right to send him to the frontline and give him a gun. He talked with his mother and said he would return on April 12th. On April 10th, I sent him 20 AZN, because he was going to come and would need money on the road. On April 11th his corpse arrived.”

Rashid Bakhshaliyev is from an IDP family from Zangilan, however, he was born in 1996 in Baku. He had an interest in music and graduated from a music school named after Asaf Zeynalli. Chimnaz Bakhshaliyeva, the mother of Rashid, hides his synthesizer far away, not to become furious.

“He had so many wishes and dreams. How should I mention it? Whatever I touch in this house belongs to him. Souvenirs, his toys left from his childhood... Every time when he called, he said that he will be back and have a wedding. He loved a girl from Sabirabad. He was going to go to the relative’s wedding and ask to keep sweets designed for the wedding. The girls put these sweets on his grave.”

Rashid wanted to stay in the military service. The family told him that he was  the only son in this family, and he changed his mind. Finally, they agreed that when only 10-15 days will be left for finishing his military service, then they will tell him their decision.

“I bought new red curtains, I made a red mattress, I was so excited that he will come soon. Now I hug his photo at nights and cry, so nobody will see and hear it,” says Chimnaz Bakhshaliyeva.

 

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“Do you see that photo. Only two soldiers are alive,” says Seyfeddin Qurbanli, whose son was one of those 14 soldiers in the photo.

The family was displaced from Yerevan, Armenia. The martyr, Fakhraddin Qurbanli, was born in 1994 in Baku. He entered into University Azerbaijan, in the faculty of social works.

His father says that he got the highest scholarship from the university. After his death, the university where he studied allocated a separate stipend named by Fakhraddin Qurbanli, and organized a football match among the students devoted to him.

The father told that till his age, he never had to fight with anyone, he was always very kind and easygoing. When he had spare time, he would visit the elderly house and orphanages. His father says that Fakhraddin Qurbanli participated in the fight for Seysula, Terter, that was returned back.

Sefeddin Qurbanli was looking for his son in Terter, later, on April 8, when he received news about his death. After he was buried, he visits the graveyard everyday.  He says that he cannot find the place at home. He takes his son’s cloth and puts it on the bed. He did not throw anything away.

There are common things that unite all these three families. All three families lived their displaced lives. All three martyrs were the youth of the ‘90s. All three died in April. All three families want the government to name the streets of the schools where they studied after the names of the martyrs. All of them don’t want the names of the soldiers to be forgotten.

This material may contain terms, which are not favored by all the parties of the dispute/conflict. Terms used in a material belong to the author and not Chai-Khana.