Hovsep Kirakosyan ( hy, Հովսեփ Կիրակոսյան; 23 August 1988 – 2 April 2016) was a military officer in the

Armenian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի զինված ուժեր, Hayastani zinvats uzher), sometimes referred to as the Armenian Army ( hy, Հայկական Բանակ, Haykakan Banak), is the national military of Armenia. It consist ...

who died during the

2016 Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes The 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, also known as the Four-Day War,, IPA: ʰɑroɾjɑ pɑtɛɾɑzm az, Dördgünlük müharibə April War,; or April clashes, began along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact on 1 April 2016 with the Artsakh D ...

Biography

He was born on 23 August 1988 in Apaga, a village in the Armavir region of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. His ancestors came from the town of Sasun in

Western Armenia Western Armenia (Western Armenian: Արեւմտեան Հայաստան, ''Arevmdian Hayasdan'') is a term to refer to the eastern parts of Turkey (formerly the Ottoman Empire) that are part of the historical homeland of the Armenians. Weste ...

. He has always dreamed of becoming a soldier. Both of his parents were against his enlistment, but were nonetheless proud of his high grades at the military academy. Hovsep Kirakosyan enlisted in the

in 2006. He went to the

Vazgen Sargsyan Military Institute The Vazgen Sargsyan Military University ( hy, Վազգեն Սարգսյանի անվան ռազմական համալսարան) is a higher educational institution functioning in the system of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia. Its mission is to ...

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

and a few years later was commissioned as a combat engineering officer. He was assigned to the

Artsakh Defense Army The Artsakh Defence Army ( hy, Արցախի Հանրապետության պաշտպանության բանակ, Artsakhi Hanrapetut’yan pashtpanut’yan banak) is the defence force of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Est ...

April War

The

April War The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was p ...

started during the night of April 1, along the northeastern part of the Artsakh-Azerbaijan contact line, when the Azerbaijani Armed Forces carried out a large-scale offensive against the Armenian side. At the time, Captain Kirakosyan was living with his wife and children in the village of Mataghis of the province of Martakert in the Artsakh Republic. His wife, Mariam, said that during the night, there was a knock on their bedroom window, from which they both woke up and were told that they needed to get their children out of the village as fast as possible. While Mariam escaped the village with their two young sons, Hovsep joined his unit and led his men to battle. Kirakosyan was one of the first soldiers to fall in the April War. During the fighting, one of his soldiers saw that blood was coming from his ears and eyes. His men were not able to remove him from the area because of intense shooting. He continued to fight, telling his soldiers, "Boys, I am fine. You go fight." He would eventually succumb to his wounds and die of bloodloss. Captain Hovsep Kirakosyan's memorial service took place on the 4th of April, 2016 in the culture center of the Apaga village and his funeral took place on 5 April. He is survived by his wife, two siblings (one older brother and a younger sister), and his two children.

Awards

Had he survived the war, Captain Hovsep Kirakosyan was going to be promoted to major in October 2016. He was posthumously awarded with the Republic of Armenia "Military Service" medal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirakosyan, Hovsep 1988 births 2016 deaths Armenian military personnel killed in action 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes