“At least one should have survived”

Editor’s note: This interview is the second in a five-part series by journalist Shushan Papazyan, with photography by Nare Arushanyan, documenting Armenian soldiers killed in service of their homeland. Through the memories of their families, the series explores their lives, dreams, loves and the enduring weight of grief. This exclusive series will be featured in the Armenian Weekly over the coming weeks. 

In the living room of Bella Galstyan’s rented apartment, a photograph of her three brothers in military uniforms hangs on the wall. Beneath it, in a corner dedicated to their memory, are family photos and personal belongings from when they were all together. 

On September 19, 2023, during Azerbaijan’s one-day offensive, and again days later on September 25 in an explosion in Haykazov, Bella lost all three brothers—witnessing the deaths of two of them with her own eyes.

32-year-old Sasun Avanesyan and 40-year-old Arayik Arakelyan were in the same defensive zone and died on September 19 from fatal injuries. Bella’s other brother, 36-year-old Davit Avanesyan, remained trapped during the siege. Freed on September 24, Davit survived the war, only to be caught the next day in the Haykazov fuel depot explosion, where he had gone to collect gasoline for a friend. He died three days later from severe burns.

Bella still cannot bring herself to speak about her brothers in the past tense. She said that at least one should have survived to be by her side. For years, Bell worked at Stepanakert’s Republican Hospital in Stepanakert. In 2023, she was working in the emergency department as a nurse when the war began. She recalls those hours vividly: 

“We put on several pairs of gloves so we would not waste time changing them,” Bella told the Weekly. “There were many wounded. It was a terrible sight. We did not sleep or rest.

“I was running through the hospital to find my brother”

During the chaos, Bella could not find Sasun. She ran through the hospital, calling his name. “I searched all the operating rooms, but did not find him. There was only one place left, and I was terrified of that thought—the room where we kept the bodies before sending them to the morgue in the morning.”

The medical workers had hidden the key. Bella pleaded with her department head, Dr. Arustamyan, to tell her where her brother was. At first, he would not answer. She pressed him, asking whether Sasun was alive. “He had turned to stone,” Bella said of the doctor. Finally, he told her that Sasun had not survived. 

Shortly afterward, a colleague approached Bella and said, “Arayik is also not well; come see.” She froze, overwhelmed by confusion and shock. Among the wounded was her cousin’s son, Arayik, who had been transported to the hospital in the same car as Sasun. Bella caught only a brief glimpse of him in the elevator on the way to surgery. 

“Arayik was still conscious, but there was no color in his face. He kept saying, ‘Sasun is not well; where did they take him?’ He begged me to inject him with something to ease the pain. I somehow pulled myself together to help. I lied and said that everything was fine with Sasun, that he was lightly wounded. I was shouting for help, my hands shaking. I stayed until he was anesthetized. Then, they told me to leave the operating room—not to interfere.”

Soon after, Bella lost consciousness, and when she came to, she heard that Arayik suffered cardiac arrest. She ran to the operating room, where doctors tried to reassure her. “However, after some time, I saw them coming out, one by one. I understood what had happened. They had not managed to save Arayik’s life after the second cardiac arrest. They would not let me go in to see him,” she explained.

Still, Bella had no news from her other brother, Davit. When a wounded man with the same name was brought in, she hoped it was him. “The medical workers said it was not Davit. I did not believe them. I looked at the last name in the wounded patients’ registry—it was not him.”

She finally spoke with her brother by phone on September 24, after he emerged from the siege in Martakert: “He asked about Arayik and Sasun. I could not tell him that they were gone. I said that both were lightly wounded, but he learned the truth from other relatives. Somehow, he made it home.”

On September 20, Bella was sent home from the hospital. After losing her brothers, she was unable to continue working. 

“They kept me in the hospital for one day under doctors’ supervision, since I was constantly losing consciousness,” she recalled. “The next day, they sent me home to be with my family. We were waiting for news from Davit, for him to come and say his final farewell. But they would not allow for the bodies to be kept for long—it was not hygienic. They said that as soon as they gave the bodies, we must hold the funeral. On September 23, they gave us both. The next morning, we buried them. Late that evening, Davit came; if we had known, we would have waited.”

Sasun and Arayik were buried in Stepanakert’s Brotherly Cemetery, alongside their comrade-in-arms, Mkhitar:

Three graves side by side in Yerablur

On September 24, Davit set out to exhume his brothers’ bodies. But when he reached the cemetery, he learned that his cousin’s family—already having left Stepanakert—had left the remains behind, trusting that the authorities would handle their transport. Determined not to let them be abandoned, Davit arranged with the father of their comrade-in-arms, Mkhitar, to retrieve the bodies on September 26 and bring them to Armenia. 

The next day, Davit went to Haykazov to fetch gasoline for a friend. Hours later, Bella’s phone rang. It was her brother.

“I lost myself again,” Bella recalled. “My eldest son and I rushed out of the house. I don’t remember how I ran to reach the scene. It was a horrible sight. Left and right, I was asking if there was a person named Davit among them.”

Bella searched for Davit at the scene for what felt like hours. Then, they received word that he had been seen at the hospital, and they rushed there. 

“There was chaos at the entrance. Somehow, I got inside through the crowd,” Bella said. “There were so many wounded, and I was desperately trying to find Davit. Finally, I saw him—half of his body was burned. I quickly provided medical aid. He was calling for me, saying he was suffocating. I tried to calm him, telling him we would save him. Mom was also beside him. He kept asking ‘Mom, are you still here?’ I was running back and forth for medicine, my hands shaking, thinking, This is my brother—we need to save him quickly. Nothing seemed to help. They told me he needed to be sent to Yerevan urgently.”

Davit spent one night in the hospital before being airlifted to Yerevan. 

“I had gone to church. I had put his name in the Holy Book, praying for him to be saved,” Bella said. “They told me he would be flown by helicopter and that he would survive. I never left his side until they put him on board. He kept saying, ‘Come with me, Bel; help me.'”

After sending Davit to Armenia, Bella and her family followed. “On September 29, we arrived in Vayq. I wanted to see Davit a day earlier, but the next day, we were supposed to go to the burn unit. My relatives convinced me to rest,” she recalled. “Then, I realized that something had happened. They had not managed to save Davit’s life either. He had died on September 27.”

“When Davit’s incident happened, he told me to memorize Mkhitar’s father’s phone number so that the brothers’ bodies could be transported without him,” she explained. “We were already on the road when a relative called, asking if we still wanted to exhume them, because it is possible they would not allow the bodies to pass through the Hakari bridge. We agreed, then lost connection. Later, they called again, saying they were alone and could not bring out all three. So, Sasun’s body remains in Stepanakert.”