Dilbar

 

Dilbar is a Yezidi nurse who went to the front line with the Yezidi detachment, through whose efforts precious lives were saved and the dangers to health were reduced.

“When the war started,” says Dilbar, “I thought I was here, and boys younger than my son were fighting on the front lines, getting wounded and dying.” Even if I put on a bandage, I have to leave. I was a little hesitant, the woman on the battlefield… But when I heard the inspiring speech of our MP Rustam Bakoyan, I was taken aback. I wrote to him that I was a nurse, I wanted to join the detachment, to be with the soldiers. He welcomed my decision and encouraged me. I left with our Yezidi detachment. It was really important for me to be there. In addition to medical care, boys are in great need of motherly love and care. They are like a child. Heavy weapons and ammunition, after carrying various items, sit with their backs to the wind. I was scolding. “Just throw something hot at you, your muscles will get sore, you will get sick, you will not be able to fight.” When they managed to contact their mothers, they said: “Do not worry, there is a caring mother like you here.” We brought our boys from the battle, changed the torn clothes, and cleaned them. I gave my warm pants to my soldier, he was an Armenian boy. He sang so well!

Extremist terrorists fighting among Azerbaijanis are very afraid of being shot by a woman. Yezidis were massacred a lot by their ancestors: I am a Yezidi woman in military clothes. I was noticed three times. My pictures were soon spread by Azeris on the Internet, as if I were a mercenary terrorist from Syria. It was rumored that I was not just killed, but killed mercylessly. We must understand that it is a war, and in front of us it is not a military, but a murderer. Our people took special care of me. One day, after another hot battle, our commander Rzgo gathered us all, put two bullets in my palm and said: “This is your salvation. If God forbid, we get surrounde, they will kill us, but not you. In that case, you will need these bullets.” Turning to the boys, he said. “Dear boys, you will take care of Dilbar very strictly. You will first think about her. And, God forbid, something happens, you will kill Dilbar so that she does not fall into their hands. Agree?” Of course, it was an unusual situation, but I understood very well that everything was right. I turned around and said angrily voice. “You, shameless, so you want to kill me?”  We all laughed. It was another laugh. There was so much courage, sweetness, pain and perseverance in that laugh…

One day, after a horrific shelling, twenty of us were wounded at the same time. We worked with nurses. One was cutting the wounded man’s shirt, another was bandaging, another was giving first aid, stopping the blood. This is how we passed from one to another… The nurses asked me: “Did you inject, did you give the medicine?” I said, “I did it.” We had all become “professors” during that time. It was a matter of saving the lives of my boys… When we bandaged everyone and had to take them to the hospital, we all looked at each other stupidly. What happened, what was the force that ruled us? How did we do all this?… When we arrived in Goris, the border started pulling me again. Maybe someone needed me during this time… I thought, now I will go home, bathe, lie down, put my head on the pillow, and there, on the battlefield, maybe we have wounded children,

… I am a little happy today. As we were transporting the wounded, there was a boy among them who was seriously injured. I gave first aid, but I did not ask his name. It was as if someone were saying, “Ask, where are you from?” He said. “I am from Armavir, from Akhparashen.” Today I asked the taxi driver, ‘Where are you from?’ he said he was from Akhparashen. I immediately asked, “We have brought a soldier, can you find out if he is alive?” He said. “There is no need to clarify. He is our neighbor’s son. They operated on his leg, his condition is very good.” I checked the boy’s number, called. “Do you know who I am?” He said, “Your voice is very familiar.” “I saved your life, I put on a bandage, sweetheart,” I cried. “Don’t cry, aunt. Everything is fine”: I say, “No, honey, these are tears of joy. How are the rest?” “We are all fine, we are all here, together.”

Now I am waiting for these few days after the release to go with the detachment again. “Our Armenian nation is dear to us,” says Dilbar. “We are people of the same land.” My friends are all Armenians, I went to school with Armenians, we were students. In that picture spread by the Azerbaijanis, next to me is Edo, our Yezidi friend who saved my life during the shelling, and on the other side is our Armenian boy. I think I have earned the respect and warmth of our boys. They keep calling and asking how I am. Yesterday someone came to our house with a bouquet of flowers to make sure with his own eyes that I was alive. He was told I was dead. He was crying with joy. Today I have a thousand boys, whom I found on the battlefield, dear brothers, fathers. We will fight until the final victory.

 

The squad commander

“You are a participant of the Artsakh war,” I start our conversation with the commander of the Kyaram Sloyan detachment, Rzgo Sarhangyan.

“I made my small investment, yes,” said the experienced commander modestly. If I did not have some combat experience, our detachment would not return safe and sound today. We went out with weapons and ammunition once a month. We were doing a difficult task in the part of the border entrusted to us. The idea to create the squad came from Mirza Sloyan, a well-known benefactor who built our sanctuary. His eldest son Roman Sloyan now continues his work. We are in direct contact with our MP Rustam Bakoyan. The military leadership is well aware of our actions. According to the exact data of our observers, the artillery was firing accurately. As a reward, we were released for five days. After doing some organizational work, we will go to the front line again.

Armenia is our homeland. It is here that we get to know ourselves, rediscover our identity. The land of Armenia has helped us. I say this from the bottom of my heart. This land is my parent. Our people who saw the genocide found themselves in Armenia. Light has been shed on the future of our nation. And now the genocidal Turks who are against us are trying to label us a “terrorist”. The homeland is the monuments that perpetuate the friendship of our two nations, our churches. We owe our lives to this land. Accept as you wish. I honestly ask you to put all my words on paper just like that. In 1915, the Turkish slaughterhouse now wants to shine on our heads again, but we will not allow it.

 

Rustam Bakoyan

Member of National Assembly

 

“Mr. Bakoyan, what would you say about the peculiarity of this war? What new challenge is this for our nations, our state?”

“We, as representatives of the creative nations, always want peace, but the aggression that Turkey, Azerbaijan and mercenary terrorists have launched against us in the form of a three-headed dragon, leaves us no alternative. Our only way is to win this war imposed on us. This is a patriotic war, a war of existence, we must win, the opposite is the elimination of our species, which we do not even consider as an option. We, the Yezidis, as citizens of the Republic of Armenia, are fulfilling our duty to the state. War does not ask for nationality, therefore, we must all fight at the cost of our blood, but we must keep our homeland.

“Azerbaijanis try to qualify the Yezidis, who are full citizens of Armenia, as mercenaries fighting in the Armenian army.”

“The question is who is talking like that? When it became known to the world during these days of war that there were terrorist groups in Azerbaijan from Libya, Syria and already from Afghanistan and Pakistan, Turkey and Azerbaijan had to open their bag of lies as a counterweight, trying to present the Armenian side as an offender. And they decided to present the Yezidi people as terrorists.”

“These days we see the Turkish signature again and again.”

“This scum that is now fighting against us is actually made up of terrorists. One day they will be brought to justice in an international court.”

“How are the boys at the border? You are constantly visiting, communicating with them.”

“Our boys fight with a smile and a song. They have a high fighting spirit and readiness. The joint feats of our boys are brilliant.”

“Mr. Bakoyan, what is your assessment of the mission of our Yezidi brothers fighting in Artsakh today?”

“Excellent. Everyone expresses their readiness to go to the front line indiscriminately, defending the borders of our homeland from the very first day of the war. I want to appeal not only to my relatives, but to all my friends. This is a struggle for existence, a patriotic war. In the end, we must put an end to this war with a victory, thus resolving the Artsakh issue once and for all. Our only way at the moment is to join our army, to stand on the border, to fight. We will win together.”

 

On the very first day of the war, the brothers of the April war hero Kyaram Sloyan, Hamik, and the recently demobilized Hrachya, expressed readiness to join the Yezidi detachment. Mrs. Nvard approached her sons’ decision with full understanding, moreover, she gave her blessing and went to see them off.

“Maybe someone else would try not to send the son,” says Nvard, “but this is not the time to keep the boys under their feet. This is a war for our land. My two sons, two brothers, went out to go. At the military commissariat, Hamik began to persuade his brother to go alone. Hracho did not agree. “We must go together.” In the morning Hrach was still asleep, Hamik got up early, we went, we prayed in our church, I saw him off to the boys of the detachment. “Hamik dear, but you did not talk to your brother, he will be upset.” He called and said: “Dear brother, mom needs you now. I leave it to you. If necessary, you will come.”

“The blood of our children was shed on that land, aren’t we going to deny it?” The mother of the hero Kyaram Sloyan concludes. If they rest a little, they will go with the detachment again.

 

The next day we talked to Hamik, who had returned from the battlefield and was on duty.

 

“Welcome, dear Hamik, how are you? What thoughts did you have, what did you come up with?”

“I am very good. There were also Armenian boys in our detachment. We stood firmly next to each other. We have a very good commander. Rzgo Sarhangyan is a strong, knowledgeable person. He also took part in the Artsakh war with his brother. He clearly and precisely organized the actions of our detachment these days. In the most dangerous position, they were on duty with the boys of our detachment.”

“Not only did your mother not try to stop you, but she approached your decision to go to the battlefield with understanding.”

“My mother said goodbye to me and gave her blessing. God forbid, but if it gets to that, of course, my brother will come too, and so will my cousins. There is no such thing – one boy left the house, the other should not go. We must all go. Now our other detachment is gone, if necessary, we are ready to leave ahead of time to replace them or stand by them.”

“What have you managed to do on the battlefield these days?”

“This is not a face-to-face fight. It is an artillery battle. The three shots fired by the Armenians cause them more damage than the thousand they sent to us. We did what was entrusted to us, as is the order. We kept our line alert under the bombings …

When one of us dies, it does not cause fear in us, but a fire of revenge. You do not think about danger at all. You realize that death is always there, and that the most honorable thing is to die while keeping your land. It is not possible to give them this land. The blood of our boys is in every handful of soil.

When I got home, my beard was quite long.” Kyarams looked at me for ten seconds, then said “Hamo” instead of his usual “papa” and fell into my arms. For his sake, for the safety of all our children, we must go, fight and win!

 

By KNAR TADEVOSYAN