Lilit Gashkoyan was forcibly displaced on September 19, 2023, as a result of another aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan. Mrs. Lilit told Iravaban.net within the framework of the “Legal issues of Artsakh Armenians in Armenia” series that she wouldn’t have left Artsakh if the soldiers hadn’t taken her dog and put it in the bus heading to Armenia.
“They started bombing, we ran, went into the basement, didn’t come out at all. Well, when they said we had to leave Artsakh, we didn’t believe they would remove us from there. To be honest, I didn’t want to leave, I wanted to stay. I had taken my dog for a walk, on the way, in our yard, the soldiers from the neighboring building came, they came and saw that I was in the yard,” our interlocutor recounts.
– Why are you here?
– Where should I go?
– The Turks are coming, where will you stand, what will you do, everyone is leaving.
– I don’t want to leave my house and go.
– Are you crazy? Do you hear the Turks’ voices?
– Well, what will they do to me? – What do you mean what will they do, see how many like you they’ve killed, how many they’ve kidnapped.
– I don’t want to leave my house, let my blood be in my soil.
The soldiers understood that Mrs. Lilit didn’t want to leave her house at all. One of them took Mrs. Lilit’s dog, Karatishka, and put it in the car: “I’ve been attached to the dog since childhood, when I saw it was impossible, I had to get in the car too.”
Karatishka is 5 years old. Our interlocutor has been keeping him since 2020. A boy left him with her and went to war, they exchanged phone numbers so that when he came back, he would definitely call and take his dog, but Mrs. Lilit never received that call: “I said when you come, the dog is yours, he left and didn’t come back and I keep his memory.”
We were curious about how Karatishka made such a long journey. Our interlocutor said that when they passed by the Russians, the dog was calm, but when they reached the Azerbaijanis, Karatishka went under the seat. Everyone was surprised, saying even the dog understands that the danger comes from them. That’s how they didn’t notice the forcibly displaced dog.
Mrs. Lilit lives alone, she only has Karatishka. Speaking about problems, she says she would like to have an apartment. She didn’t manage to take anything with her, not even clothes.
“It’s better to be the dog in your own house than the king in someone else’s house. I don’t lose hope that I should return. Even if my house has been looted and taken,” she says.
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This material was prepared with the financial support of the European Union. The Armenian Lawyers’ Association NGO is responsible for the content, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
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