Mrs. Ashkhen Malkhasyan, 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 she was in Artsakh during the wars of 1992, 2016, 2020, but she never imagined that she would have to leave his home in 2023.
“They gave us 2-3 days to leave, we can’t imagine, we don’t remember what happened that they told us to leave. We lived after 2020, we were not afraid, we said it will be fine. My son built houses. He said, “Mom, everything will be fine. We built the house, only the balcony is left and then we will live a prosperous life,” he said.
Our interlocutor remembers that on 19 September, after finishing her household work, she went to stand in line for bread. She was standing in the queue when the enemy began shelling Artsakh.
“Whenit wa my turn to buy bread they hit once. The people were in panick. Let’s see if they made a splash again. Oh, it is war. I couldn’t find my place, I called my son. He said, “Mom, run away somewhere.” I did not know where to run. I ran here and there. My son says, “Mom, go into the basement. I did not know what to do, I lost myself. I did not know what to do. We ran to the basement of our bakery worker. I couldn’t find my place, my heart was hurting, and I couldn’t go down. My heart was stopping, I said: OK, people, I’m out of breath. I ran away from there, went to the school. I stayed outside all night with a blanket on me. I was sitting sleepless. The drones were coming and going over our heads. You have no idea what a painful fight it was. Until now, we have not find ourselves” Mrs. Ashkhen says.
She also tells about the nine months of the blockade, noting that there were days when they could not even find bread.
“We were sleeping hungry; all of Artsakh was like that. We were going to sleep in tears. What would we do, we didn’t have pasts OK the life was bad. But we did not leave our land; we said it will be well. Armenians were crushed, how could the Turk do that? We panicked, collected our things in two or three days and left. I had some flour at home; I said that I shall bake bread until my son goes to find fuel so that we could leave. I don’t even want to go out, I’m crying. I say: I will live here with a Turk, my son says: how will you live with a Turk, the Turks will kill you, I say: I do not care they will kill me, I will not leave my house. I came out, crying. I wanted to bake four loaves of bread; I baked two of them and left them both in the oven. We left on 24 September. We were in the basement for 2-3 days. My son has a machine gun in his hand and says, ” Mom, let’s go to our house, I have the machine gun, and the grenade, if the Turks come, we will embrace one another, blow ourselves up, but we will not become prisoners of the Turk. So we went to our house, I was sleeping in the living room, Whenever I heard a noise, I jumped up, we thought that the Turk had come,” Mrs. Ashkhen said.
According to her, they traveled for two days. She says that they left everything in Artsakh.
“Chickens, house, we left there everything that we had bought, refrigerator, washing machine, ovens. We left everything. I had unused dishes. I was waiting for my son to marry, for my daughter-in-law to come and live. I left the chickens out,” our interlocutor said.
She says that he will not go and live with the terms of reintegration proposed by the Azerbaijani side.
“Who will go there until the Turk’s leg is there? They are slaughtering and throwing your baby before your eyes. Will you go and live there? The ground there is still wet with blood. So many soldiers died, that land is wet, we want to go to our country, but the Turk is there. Whoever is useless, whoever is foolishly, will go and live with the Turks. But will he live? He will have to live like a slave,” our interlocutor said.
Mrs. Ashkhen says that they have many problems here. The house rent is expensive: 120,000 drams, there is no job; they do not know how to pay. They live in a one-room apartment, where there is nothing. She says that she cannot do laundry by hand either. She is waiting with hope that they will give her compensation.
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
