Gayane Ishkhanyan, forcibly displaced from the occupied Republic of Artsakh, told in the framework of “Artsakh: Armenian Genocide 2023. Stories of Survivors” documentary project of Iravaban.net, that she was displaced from Shushi as well.

“On 27 September, 2020, when the war started, we stayed in Shushi, in the basement, for 2 days. Then we were told that there is a danger and we should leave. When the war ended, we went to Stepanakert on 9 December,” she said.

Our interlocutor emphasizes that they hoped that everything would be fine, that they would continue to live in their homeland.

“This time, when the war started, I was at work, my children were at school, people were in a panic, and they did not know where to go. It was a terrible situation, and then when it turned out that they were not shooting at Stepanakert, people came out and ran to find their children, and I went and brought my children from schools as well. We stayed in the basement for two days, until it turned out that the Turks (Azerbaijanis-ed.) had already approached the city, we were told that they had already entered the city from the outskirts, and again there was panic, people started driving to the airport, hoping that the Russians would do something and will save them, but we were told at the airport that we can go back to our homes,” Gayane said.

She says that later people started looking for gasoline to get out of Stepanakert, but the explosion happened in the gasoline warehouse.

“Many victims, wounded, the condition of the hospitals was very terrible, and they were not ready to receive so many people with burns. Many simply died of pain. During the war, there were many victims and wounded, it was very sad, I am a lecturer at the university, and many of my students were killed. It is very painful, but we are also proud that they fought until the last breath, we fought until the end,” Gayane Ishkhanyan said.

She remembers that the situation in Stepanakert was terrible in recent days, the buses did not manage to transport people, and many spent the night in Renaissance Square.

According to Gayane, the aim of the Azerbaijanis was to eliminate people.

“People who want to kill: it is impossible to live with them. The integration that they proposed is impossible, even more after so many wars. Their goal was to depopulate and destroy us,” Gayane said.

“Artsakh: Armenian Genocide 2023. Stories of Survivors” documentary project of Iravaban.net is aimed at collecting the memories and testimonies of citizens forcibly displaced from Artsakh occupied by Azerbaijan, about the genocide of the Armenians of Artsakh committed by Azerbaijan, atrocities, the days of war, the path of deportation, etc.

Iravaban.net seeks help from citizens who will voluntarily agree to translate materials into different languages: Russian, English, French, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Georgian, Chinese…

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Details in the video.

Hasmik Sargsyan