"Sometimes you'd like to let go, to be hugged and loved. But I have to be strong for my children."
Ludwig Mkrtchyan was taken prisoner on October 12, 2020 during the 44-day war in Artsakh. From that day on, his family had no further contact with him. Following the ceasefire on November 9, 2020, the tripartite declaration provided for an exchange of all prisoners of war. Ludwig, unlike the other prisoners captured before November 9, 2020, was not handed over to Armenia. What's more, an Azeri court sentenced him to 20 years' imprisonment, the harshest penalty. And yet, he is not a career soldier or a high-ranking officer.
He enlisted as a reservist so as not to lose Armenian Artsakh, just as Nakhchivan, another autonomous Armenian region within Soviet Azerbaijan, was lost. Unlike Artsakh, Nakhchivan was emptied of its Armenian population during the Soviet era.
Ludwig knows all too well what it's like to lose your homeland, your home. He was born in 1969 in Nakhchivan, in the town of Aznaberd, the last Armenian town to be emptied of its Armenian population.
Aznaberd had several medieval churches: the monastery of Saint-Tovma (10th century), the churches of Saint-Hovhannes (12th century) and Saint-Grigor (12th century), and the chapel of Saint-Hakob. They were all deliberately destroyed between 2001 and 2011 by the Azeri authorities as part of their policy to erase all Armenian traces in Nakhichevan, Artsakh and other parts of what is now Azerbaijan.
Shortly after his birth, Ludwig's family fled from Aznaberd to Yeghegnadzor in Armenia. As his family was modest, they could only find a half-built house to live in. Ludwig spent his whole life trying to repair the house and create good living conditions for his family. His big dream was to own his own house one day.
This dream became a goal when he married Hranoush: they both wanted their children to grow up in their own home, without ever having to fear homelessness.
After many years of hard work, Ludwig and his wife Hranoush were finally able to buy an apartment thanks to a bank loan... But Ludwig wasn't even able to live in his dream apartment for a year.
On September 27, 2020, when Azerbaijan unleashed a war along the entire Artsakh border, and like many Armenians, Ludwig, traumatized by the loss of his homeland in Nakhichevan, joined the defense of Artsakh.
"We were told he was dead... That his body wasn't there... The neighbors came to express their condolences, but I couldn't understand why. My two children and I couldn't accept the news ,” says Ludwig's wife Hranoush.
Ludwig's daughter, Svetlana, spent her days looking at videos and photos on Azerbaijani Telegram channels, searching for her father or, painful as it may seem, his body... At the time, the Azeris were putting a lot of videos of torture and capture of Armenians online.
"She was no longer afraid. She had seen so much inhuman and cruel treatment on the Internet. It was as if her heart had frozen... It was on November 13 that she saw a video in which we recognized Ludwig,” explains Hranoush. Then the International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that Ludwig was indeed in captivity in Azerbaijan.
When asked to describe Ludwig in one sentence, Hranoush replied: “A man with a capital H”. There were other prisoners with Ludwig who had already returned home. Many of them, when they returned to Armenia, visited Ludwig's family and expressed their gratitude, saying that they had never met such a kind and caring person as he, and that without Ludwig, they probably wouldn't have had the strength to overcome such hardships.
“He helped them a lot, protected them, supported them psychologically. At work, with his family and friends, everywhere, Ludwig was a modest person. If he could, he helped people, if he couldn't, he didn't bother. Family was the most important thing to him. We both worked and, in fact, always struggled financially in all areas of life. Ludwig first worked as a shoemaker, then as a bricklayer, and I'm a disabled person. Although I've almost always worked, we've never had high salaries. We spent whole days worrying about our family and taking care of our children. She's a very altruistic person. Sometimes, when we cooked good dishes or bought something special and saved a portion for him to eat when he got home, he'd say, “I don't want it, let the kids eat it.” In every situation, he'd go without and say, 'It's better to spend this money on the kids,'” says his wife.
In the beginning, Hranoush admits she was completely lost and deeply depressed, as she had to look after the family all by herself. One day, her 14-year-old son asked her, “Mom, do we have any money to buy bread?”. This question brought Hranoush back to reality. She pulled herself together and discovered a strength in herself she'd had no idea of before.
Secretly, away from the children, she goes into the bathroom and reads Ludwig's letters from the International Committee of the Red Cross, trying to soothe her nostalgia. She cries in the bathroom, relives those moments, then dries her tears, washes her face and goes out so that the children don't see her weak and helpless. More than twenty years of marriage have not weakened their love for each other. On the contrary, their love is stronger than ever.
Today, Hranoush takes care of everything - the bank loan, the children - and tries to do everything in his power to ensure that their children will never feel ashamed or feel the absence of their father. His family only receives occasional support from benevolent individuals or organizations, which they use to pay off the mortgage. The son will finish his studies this year. Hranoush is trying to do all he can to offer his son an education at a medical school. The daughter was also studying at university, in the winemaking department, but was unable to continue her studies, as it was at the time her father was captured and the family was going through a difficult period, both psychologically and financially.
“I had no idea I had so much strength inside me. It's very difficult to be a single woman with two children. For example, when my daughter got engaged, I really wanted my husband to be by my side. According to Armenian tradition, it's the daughter's father who serves the cognac at the engagement party. In our case, we entrusted this responsibility to my son. I imagine my daughter's future wedding, thinking about the moment when they announce that the parents must enter the hall. How am I going to get in as a mother, a father or a single parent? It's very sad for our family life. Sometimes we'd like to let go, to be hugged and loved. But I have to be strong for my children... Ludwig wasn't in the habit of making grand declarations of love. He was very reserved and modest. He only told me once that he loved me, when we were to be married. And now he writes in every letter: I love you, I miss you. I thought you'd been by my side for so long without telling me you loved me, and now the whole of Armenia and Azerbaijan have learned that you love me (laughs)... That's the only positive thing in all this,” says Hranoush.
Ludwig Mkrtchyan was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment in Azerbaijan, including 10 years in a penal colony under strict regime. Every month, the International Committee of the Red Cross organizes a telephone call between the family and Ludwig, and also shows them videos. Neither his lawyers in Armenia, nor the Red Cross, know why he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ludwig, a living witness to ethnic cleansing in Armenian Nakhichevan, is now being repeated in Artsakh.