MOM, I HAVE A HIGHER RANK NOW…

I love you, my homeland, Armenia, and that love is not just words with a pleasant vocabulary. You have come from the depths of the centuries with your courageous essence …

Your story is a witness. The march of your centuries has not been easy. You have fought for freedom, you have spread many victories on your millennial journey, thanks to your lion-hearted children, powerful mothers, who sowed patriotism, patriotic spirit with their blood and milk.

… Here is our turn to protect you with your breast, to serve you, to see the world, to dictate your independence and power.

I am one of the thousands of mothers whose son serves the homeland.

My son, Alik Ikhtiaryan, graduated from Vayk High School with honors and had a number of sports achievements. He has been enrolled in the Medical University. On July 2019 he left for service. I remember my feelings when he said: “Mom dear, I will be serving in Tonashen, it is very good…”.  My body trembled.

… What beauty, wonderful nature! We are on our way to Artsakh to attend the military oath ceremony. My pride and excitement are mixed. I want the world to know that my son is a blow of my homeland, a threshing floor of his land and a restraint to a treacherous enemy.

… Alik is ​​an artilleryman. When he came on vacation six months later, I saw him more mature. He said, “Dear mom, to be a soldier means not only how to use arms, but also, first of all, a citizen who performs a sacred duty.”

… When you look at the wonderful nature of Artsakh from the slopes of Mount Mrav, plunged into the clouds, the urge to finally impose the peaceful sky of our country on the enemy intensifies. A strong state is one whose guardians are armed with a high awareness of the nation’s dignity. And with that realization we stand on the front lines of the Armenian statehood.

Dear mother, an individual becomes a soldier if he realizes that he’s fully aware of the unconditional fulfillment of the set orders and tasks. So, dear mom, I now have a higher rank than just that of a son. I’m a Soldier now.”  This is the manifestation of the strong spirit of my son, Alik Ikhtiaryan, who serves in Yeghnikner, the realization of a nineteen-year-old Armenian.

… As an Armenian mother, all that remains for me is to weave a prayer for the lives of our soldiers, instilling an unfounded faith և strength in each soul and conveying my motherly warm love …

HAYARPI MARGARYAN

Vayk