16-year-old Eduard Arushanyan, who was 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 on 19 September, when the enemy unleashed its next aggression, he was in a position and they started hitting them with shells.

“We understood that it was war, we went down to the basement. It was a very bad situation, it was very scary. We stayed in the basement for 2-3 days,” Eduard syas.

He describes the situation in Stepanakert in recent days with pain and sadness.

“It was a very difficult situation; when we went out into the city, there was destruction everywhere. All the people came to the city. It was a terrible situation.” he recalls.

Our interlocutor says that the way from Artsakh to Armenia took them 4 days.

“We reached the Republic of Armenia in a military truck, with about 40 people – adults, children. They stopped at the Hakari Bridge and they made the men come out of the truck. I did not expect that it would be like this, I never thought of such a thing. We left without saying goodbye to our monasteries, our “Dedo-Babo” (monument of “Grandmother and Grandfather” in Stepanakert), our city, our house, our land. Although Armenia is our homeland nevertheless, I miss our home, our homeland,” he says.

Speaking about the reintegration proposed by the enemy, Edurad states that he will return to Artsakh only if there are no Azerbaijanis there.

“They do so many atrocities, they do so much vileness, and they skin ordinary people, the soldiers. Nobody knows what was happening in Artsakh during the 10 months, only the residents of Artsakh know. It was a struggle,” he says, and emphasizes that the days of the blockade have passed in queues for bread.

Eduard says that it was very difficult, but they were ready to survive in those conditions.

“We were in blockade for 10 months, but nobody was there. What can we expect from the international community now? And, as soon as the war started in Israel, the whole world is talking about it, they are sending aid,” Eduard Arushanyan says.

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 “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…

You can write to our e-mail address at: [email protected]

To donate for realization of the project: https://iravaban.net/en/become-a-supporter

Details in the video.

Hasmik Sargsyan