Mrs. Zarine Mekiyan, Community Head of Berkadzor village of occupied Artsakh Republic, told in the framework of “Artsakh: Armenian Genocide 2023. Stories of Survivors” documentary project of Iravaban.net what the situation was in the village during the 44-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan on 27 September, 2020.
“I went through that brutal war as a community leader. We imagined that it would last as short as in 2016, because we were expecting the best. There was such a mood that we will win. The power of victory spoke. In 2020, I went out for a week. I brought the children, and then with my eldest son, since he turned 18, and was subject to military service, I returned again and we went through everything,” she said.
She emphasized that on 1 December, 2020, the residents of Berkadzor returned to their homes, all of them. The community received 35 evacuated families as well.
“Having put up with a cruel fate, we found strength and started to live our routine life. The enemy was very close, but still, there was no fear. We returned with the aim that we should live and fight on our land. People started their lives again, despite the difficult conditions,” Mrs. Zarine said.
According to our interlocutor, even nine months of illegal blockade did not depress them.
“There were areas in the community, people cultivated them. There were potatoes, there were cattle, although few, we were engaged in plant breeding and beekeeping. There was a problem with oil, bread, wheat; there was a problem with cheese. It was difficult, but we put up with it. We were clinging to our Artsakh land, we didn’t want to leave our land, we were fighting,” the Head of the Berkadzor community said.
She remembers that on 19 September, 2023, she was in the community hall when the enemy launched another aggression.
“It started all at once, from different sides. The first was heard by Shushi, there were also sounds coming from Akna, as if those shells were falling on our community. The first shell fell on the residential building of our community, we had three injured on the spot, and the communication was interrupted. The boys of our village took the people out. At that moment, I could not contact either the head of the administration or the head of civil protection, but after a few minutes they contacted me and said that a large-scale war had started again. I presented that the situation of the community is very serious, because they were firing at our village from all sides, residential houses had collapsed. I contacted the Mayor of Stepanakert, we said that the situation is very serious, the head of civil protection also called and said: we are providing three buses, take the residents out. We left on 19 September, because the target was our village, there were several military objects in the village,” Zarine Mekiyan said.
Details in the video.
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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
