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Founder of "Armenian Geographic" Tigran Varag talks about his participation in the war in the southern direction, south of Shushi, in details. He gives out some very interesting details.
1. He says he joined the fight on October 17, was notified 7-8 before that date, but then it was postponed for another 7-8 days.
2. Varag: they were supposed to take us for preparatory training, but they took us directly to Artsakh, and we waited there for 2 days until we were replenished with rifles, ammo, clothes, etc. and they took us directly to the front line.
He says he ended up in Mokhrenes village.
He says he ended up in Mokhrenes village.
3. Varag: first they took us to Azokh, then Togh, but the situation there was somewhat bad and there was artillery shelling, so there was a quick decision and they took us to Mokhrenes (red mark).
4. Varag: Mokhrenes was front line at that time, there were no trenches. The enemy was always advancing, our forces retreating, and the contact lines were daily changing.
5. Varag: in Mokhrenes we did not have a commander, we did not have a combat task, we did not have a map, and we did not have communications equipment, etc.
We were a force of 32 fighters, and they actually told us to pick a commander by ourselves.
We were a force of 32 fighters, and they actually told us to pick a commander by ourselves.
6. Reporter Tatul Hakobyan: so you followed Nikol Pashinyan's 6-step order through FB [in which he ordered the formation of volunteer squads.]
(Pashinyan had written an FB status in which he asked people to form volunteer groups, pick a commander, and head to the front line)
(Pashinyan had written an FB status in which he asked people to form volunteer groups, pick a commander, and head to the front line)
Varag re: I got to know that (what Tatul Hakobyan said) when I was there, at that time that [status] was not posted yet, we knew that the army still existed, and there is no need to form volunteers groups. We were thinking that everything is coordinated, and then I knew that...
...such a status was posted by Nikol Pashinyan.
7. Varag: the army told us to select a commander from our 32-member unit. It is a bit difficult to imagine how we were going to do that, 32 people seeing each other for the first time, no one knows the other. They take you to the battlefield and tell you to choose a commander.
8. Varag: there were a few villagers left in Mokhrenes, 4-5 people, who also had different opinions. One was saying you must climb here, the other, there, etc...
Then our unit split into two opinions after long discussions, half of them said we are going, the other half opposed.
Then our unit split into two opinions after long discussions, half of them said we are going, the other half opposed.
9. Varag: because there was no [clear] order, people [fighters] could not understand if what the villagers were saying was a basis for what they should do (combat task).
10. Varag: at the end we decided to do what they (villagers) were saying, and we climbed a mountain between Hakaku (Հակակու - Agdam on map) and Mokhrenes.
11. Varag: we should have kept the mountain in anticipation of an attack from Hakaku towards Mokhrenes, and as it turned out, later towards Shushi (from there).
Tatul Hakobyan: the road which Azerbaijani is building from Fizuli to Shushi.
Varag: yes, approximately that road.
Tatul Hakobyan: the road which Azerbaijani is building from Fizuli to Shushi.
Varag: yes, approximately that road.
12. Varag: we took up a position on that mountain, shots were heard from different directions and we could not understand which shots were ours, which theirs because mixed (unclear) information was coming.
13. Varag: we spent one night there, guarding on rotation in anticipation of an attack from Hakaku. The night of the 2nd day we got a call at dusk from a villager who was in a position nearby, he told us to come running and meet in 10 minutes, and told us to leave our position.
14. Varag: we did not understand what was happening there, nobody was discussing anything, we left weapons in rush, and were told "Turks have entered."
Then we went to the village (from the mountain they were on) and took refuge inside a house, then they told us it will be hit...
Then we went to the village (from the mountain they were on) and took refuge inside a house, then they told us it will be hit...
...then we ran to the school, then here and there. Everyone was saying something.
15. Varag: we then decided to split ourselves into teams of 8, and guard the village for the night in anticipation of an Azerbaijani attack, because we thought that since they have taken Togh, it's only 3 km and they could reach us.
16. Varag: in the morning it was sunny, everyone's mood got better and an officer from the village who supposedly knew the situation told us that it was a lie that the Azeris were in Togh, and it was only small diversion units which were destroyed, Togh is under Armenian control.
17. Varag: after that news we started doing barbecue instead of carrying out guarding duties. But then it turned out that it wasn't like that, and the Azeris were in Togh.
18. Varag: looking back to that day, we should have dug in positions, but we were in the village thinking about what's happening. There is only one road from Togh to Mokhrenes and had we taken up positions in the forests, we could have at least tried to keep the village...
...why am I saying that, because the logic hints that we (as command, not his unit) did not have intention to keep the village. As if groups of forces were filled in villages in anticipation of an order to retreat after some time.
19. Varag: in the evening, a couple of fighters went down from the village and saw that the Turks are coming. A skirmish started, and the officer (see tweet 16) called the general and asked him what to do, we are 30 people, how to keep the village, the general said leave quickly.
20. Varag: we retreated towards Tumi through the mountains where we should have joined the Ijevan detachment, but when we reached Tumi, it turned out that the Ijevan detachment had already left Tumi during the day at around 2-3 pm, and Tumi was empty. There were 3-4 people there.
21. Varag: one of the 3-4 villagers said let's defend the village, then the officer (tweet 16) who had spoked with the general said that they have to pull out because the general had said so and they can't keep the village because help will not come.
22. Varag: during that discussion, Mets Tagher (red) was shelled in front of our eyes. We were on higher groud in Tumi (grey), some 20 houses blew up at once in Mets Tagher.
23. Varag: a second salvo hit Mets Tagher, and all of us thought that Tumi would be the next target. The retreat continued and we reached Kirsavan.
24. Varag: at that time we had information that villages Khtsaberd and Hin Tagher located on the opposite side of Dizapayt fell.
25. Varag: in Kirsavan we saw a couple of officers, approached and asked them what to do. We were a "disoriented" force with no combat task.
26. Tatul Hakobyan: so you could have left and came back to Yerevan.
Varag: that is what was happening those days. Many people were giving back their weapon to the Military Police and going back home.
Varag: that is what was happening those days. Many people were giving back their weapon to the Military Police and going back home.
27. Varag: in Kirsavan, people from the reconnaissance told us that a bus will be sent to take us to Askeran, give back our weapons and we would go home.
28. Varag: in Askeran, for many days we were told that we will pass training but that did not happen. We were then deployed to Karintak (village under Shushi, blue) on October 31, when the enemy was in Sghnakh.
29. Varag: we got surrounded in Karin Tak in the night of November 3.
His unit got outflanked and surrounded, but fire support from the higher ground in Shushi neutralized the advancing Azeri troops and his unit was out of encirclement.
His unit got outflanked and surrounded, but fire support from the higher ground in Shushi neutralized the advancing Azeri troops and his unit was out of encirclement.
30. Varag: next, the Azeris started an offensive from the direction of Sghnakh, and we received an order to retreat from Karin Tak. I was surprised, because that was the point where no more retreat was possible. I though we would stay there and fight.
31. Varag: while retreating from Karin Tak, we saw a group of 20 fighters from the police forces who had no vests. They only had rifles with one magazine each. We gave them our magazines since they were tasked to keep that area and we were retreating.
32. Varag: later we saw the the group of 20 retreating too. They told us they had received an order to retreat.
33. Varag: they (MoD) were saying that there are fights ongoing for Shushi, but according to my understanding, Shushi fell on October 6.
