Nelly Petrosyan, 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, she had to be forcibly displaced from Artsakh twice, the first time in 2020, and now in 2023.
“We left Artsakh in 2020. At that time, all three of my sons were at the positions. One was a soldier, an the two volunteers. My son has lost his leg in that war. There was no fear when returning to Artsakh, because the Russian peacekeepers were there. On 9, the fight stopped, on the 18 November I took my children and returned to our home, we lived our daily life. The enemy’s positions were 500 meters away from us, but since there were Russian peacekeepers, we were not very afraid,” she said.
According to her, they overcame all difficulties during the siege; the most needed was oil and sweet.
“That morning (19 September, ed.) I had a bad feeling, I don’t know, maybe that was why I didn’t send the child to school. I do not remember the time, but we heard the sounds of shooting and explosions, we went to the basement of the Culture House in Martuni. On 20 September, we just learned about the loss of my brother and the hero boy. They did not allow us to bring my brother’s body. In those days, I couldn’t think about other things, I was constantly thinking about when they will bring my brother’s body for burial. My uncle somehow convinced me and my mother to go out. We left my brother’s burrial hole and the flowers like and went out. It seemed that I was dying; I couldn’t even find my place. While on the way we contacted my brother’s friends; they had no information about where they were going to take my brother’s body. Then they said that they would take him to Yerablur. What are people happy about, and what am I happy about? I was glad that he would be here. Oh, I don’t know,” our interlocutor said.
Nelly Petrosyan says that they checked the boys’ passports while crossing the Hakari Bridge.
“We just came to Vaik, and were welcomed. We didn’t take anything with us: only some clothes and documents,” she said.
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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.
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Hasmik Sargsyan
