Because their names must live on
In Yerevan's fertility clinics, 40- to 50-year-old parents sit waiting. Not just for news of a pregnancy, but for a second chance. For many, the child they hope for already has a name: the name of a son lost in war.
Most of the 3825 soldiers killed during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war were between 18 and 20 years old. Now, years later, their grieving parents are turning to IVF and surrogacy, supported by a state programme that covers all medical costs, to bring a new child into the world.
In almost every case, the name of the fallen son is passed on. If a boy is born, he will carry the same name. If it's a girl, the name is often softened or adjusted to resemble it. Sound morbid, or even bizarre to you? For many families, the child is not only a tribute, but a new beginning and a small piece of hope after loss.
The programme was introduced after Armenia's defeat in the second Nagorno-Karabakh war against Azerbaijan, a six-week conflict in 2020 that ended in the loss of both territory and thousands of young lives. Armenia's wounds after defeat are still fresh, and for a country of three million, the absence of many young men weighs heavily on its future.
The IVF program is more than a population policy. It's become a personal and national response to that loss. ”They took their children away from them,” says Dr. Tatevik Kirakosyan, chief embryologist at one of Yerevan's clinics. ”Bringing them back somehow is a middle finger to the Azerbaijanis.”
Nationwide statistics on the programme's success don't exist yet, but in Kirakosyan's clinic alone, 250 children have been born through it.