Inara Hayrapetyan, forcibly displaced from the occupied Republic of Artsakh told her story of deportation from the homeland in the framework of “Artsakh: Armenian Genocide 2023. Stories of Survivors” documentary project. She was born in the city of Chartar in Artsakh.
“We are 7 children in the family: 5 sisters, 2 brothers. My father was a participant in the war, he died during the war. My mother raised 7 minor children alone.
Andranik Hayrapetyan, Inara Hayrapetyan’s brother
On 27 September, 2020 when the war began, my brothers volunteered for the war, my husband was also a serviceman. Unfortunately, my elder brother was killed on 23 October. On the same day, my husband’s brother also died, leaving 2 minor children,” she said.
According to Inara, they passed through all the difficulties during the 9 months of the blockade.
“The child was crying, he wanted candy, and you do not know what to say. The child is little, and does not even understand that there was no candy. We made candy with jam. We overcame everything to stay in Artsakh. I worked in the Art schools of Chartar and Kert as a fine arts teacher, I was going to go to work on 19 September. I called my husband to come and take care of the child, so that I could go to work. My husband came home, I put food for us to eat, and then I had to go. I was in a hurry, my husband said: ‘what are you in a hurry, don’t go anywhere’, and the warbegan… before he could finish the sentence,” our interlocutor says.
Inara says that she was scared by the sounds of the explosions, she hugged the child and ran barefoot to the neighbor’s house, as they had a basement.
Armen Ghukasyan, Inara Hayrapetyan’s brother-in-law
“It is true that it was not safe, but we entered the basement crying and running with all the neighbors. We stayed for some time, then a friend of ours came and took us all to the basement of the school to be safe. Although there was no safe place. They were hitting so close that we were expecting every minute that it would fall on our heads. Then, we stayed in the basement for several hours. The children were crying. One was hungry, the other was sleepy, and we decided to go home. We gathered again with all the neighbors in the basement. We took whatever was available to eat at our houses. We cooked together and fed the children. Wow, it was terrible. Then rumors spread that the Turks had entered the villages. We all had to get together and go out. We were running scared. On 27 September, we left Chartar, leaving the most precious thing, the graves our relatives and our homes. On the way, the Azerbaijanis checked the car and asked how many people there were,” Inara says.
She says that they went to Stepanakert and waited to find some fuel. They managed to find a little fuel. 2 days after setting off, they reached Hakari Bridge. Azerbaijanis stopped them and conducted an inspection. “We came to Yerevan with 15 people. Kind people welcomed us and kept us in their house, after 10 days we somehow got a house for rent. The houses are really too expensive.”
According to her, if she had the opportunity, he would go even for a few minutes, to see the cemeteries and settlements.
“But living with them is excluded. I have a son, should I raise him, should he serve in the Turkish army, fight against the Armenians? In no case,” she notes.
Hasmik Sargsyan
