84-year-old Gulkhara Nersesyan was forcibly displaced from the occupied Republic of Artsakh. She told in the framework of “Artsakh: Armenian Genocide 2023. Stories of Survivors” documentary project of Iravaban.net, that she was displaced from Noragyug village of Askeran region.
“My grandson was at the gasoline warehouse that exploded; he was thrown 30 meters from the explosion. We have lived a very harsh life. My legs were tired of the road. A woman in Goris, Sveta, took me to their house. She is calling till now to ask if that grandmother is healthy. In the end, we came here with my grandson and great-grandson. The owner of this house, God bless him, I don’t know where we would have been now, and he learnt about us and brought us here. Well, we also took some clothes and came, but we could not bring anything with us. We left everything there. I have three victims in Artsakh. We also left those graves in Artsakh,” our interlocutor says.
Ms. Gulkhara emphasizes that they “drew” had spent many hard days.
“We were hungry, we were thirsty, nothing happened, but we resisted, we were resisting again again and again, not to leave our homeland. We left everything and came, let’s see who will gives us a kilo of something to live on. Our life is this way. My life has been a struggle. My eldest son is injured, there are fragments all over his body,” she says.
The woman from Artsakh says that there is no work and she does not know what will happen, who will take care of them.
Ms. Gulkhara presents how on 19 September, the enemy unleashed another aggression.
“They were shooting at our positions, tanks were coming, and the people were running away, they were being killed, the enemy had taken the height. Whoever managed to leave, in a small car, in a big car, and all left. Well, what could we do, we went out. We had to leave, they entered the village. Weeping, big, small… We saw so many battles, we left our homeland, we came because we were not protected, and we were left without a protector. If we had stayed, they would have slaughtered everyone, destroyed everything,” she said.
Speaking about the reintegration proposed by the Azerbaijani side, our interlocutor mentioned that those who have seen so many things will not want to go there again.
“let my enemy notsee what we saw there,” she says.
Now they live in Arevik village. The family consists of 8 people. Mrs. Gulkhara’s daughter-in-law bakes bread with jengyal. She is trying to sell it in local stores, but there is still no demand. She is also a teacher of Russian language, she says that he can teach the children of the village.
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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…
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Details in the video.
Armenian Lawyers’ Association is the author of the idea “Artsakh: Armenian Genocide 2023. Stories of Survivors” documentary project of Iravaban.net and is the owner of copyright of the materials created within the framework of the project. In case of using the materials produced within the framework of the project, it is necessary to obtain the written permission of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association.
Hasmik Sargsyan
