There will still be a lot to talk and write about the heroes of the four-day war that took place in Artsakh in April 2016. In one day, those young men became legends and went down in the history of the Armenian people. They had dreams that were not fulfilled and a life that ended too soon, but they brought the tiding of a new life and proved the words of the Armenian poet who said “There are always brave people, they need weapons!” They, the defenders of our land, the rays of light from above, became our guardian angels, and we, human beings on Earth, must remember them with words, songs, in our dreams and in our reality…The novel “Vision” by young writer Regina Amatouni is dedicated to the memory of these brave young men and was presented just recently. Regina was hosted at the editorial office of Hayern Aysor where she talked about the idea of the book and the history behind it, mentioning that the hardest part was visiting the families of the deceased soldiers, talking to their parents and reliving the pain that is deep for any parent who has lost a son.

“Of course, it was not easy for their parents to touch upon the topic again, though they will be experiencing that pain and feeling proud of such sons for the rest of their lives. At first, I didn’t want to write a book. I wanted to go to the military positions and stand by the soldiers’ side. I even found a military uniform and was ready to go to the border. I addressed the squad of volunteers of the Union of Volunteer Land Defenders, but they didn’t let me go and said it would be better for me to write a book about them…At the time, I was writing a book about the heroes of the first Artsakh war and left it incomplete…One night, I had a vision and came up with the idea of writing a book with the title “Vision”. In reality, that book was quite extensive, but in the end, it turned out to be a short novel. I published the book in a matter of days, and it was like a vision. President of the Union of Writers of Yerevan, literary critic and my professor Abgar Apinyan motivated me a lot. He and I visited the parents and relatives of Kyaram Sloyan, whose parents, brother and sister-in-law were also attending the meeting. The home of Kyaram’s dreams was already ready…However, Kyaram didn’t see it. He died with that dream. After that, I also visited the parents of the other heroes, including Aghasi Asatryan, Robert Abajyan, Adam Sahakyan, Sasha Galstyan and Sasun Mkrtchyan…They are the heroes I saw. I might continue later. I think we always need to keep the families of those boys in focus and visit and talk to them often. This is everyone’s duty. Our 18-year-old heroes didn’t retreat. So, we have no right to retreat. We always need to struggle for our independence and the impregnability of our borders. My book was presented at Royal Restaurant Complex on August 5. I had chosen the venue intentionally. I changed the format so that it wouldn’t be a standard book presentation or in a library. I wanted the presentation to be held in a friendlier environment. There was a pomegranate and a machine gun on the cake prepared for the presentation and cut by the parents of the deceased soldiers. Among the speakers were Abgar Apinyan, linguist Lavrenti Mirzoyan and others. I am thankful to everyone who supported me morally and spiritually and helped me release this book. I thank my mother for her financial assistance. I will most likely present the book in Los Angeles as well.”

Let us wish the young writer success and wish that her next book will be devoted to the living heroes so that we never shed tears and see bloodshed in the spring, the young Armenians defending the borders of our country return to their homes safe and sound and that gunshots are fired only for victory.

Karine Avagyan