Eliza Grigoryan was born in the village of Mets Tagher in occupied Artsakh. She married and moved to Sumgait, then narrowly escaped the Sumgait pogroms.
“We came to Stepanakert. My older child was 2 years old, my daughter was 3 months old. We barely escaped from the enemy’s clutches. We lived in a dormitory for several years. Then we built a house. My husband was wounded in the First Artsakh War. Together we worked at the Physics and Mathematics School for many years. In 2020, as a result of the war, we moved to Yerevan for a few days. After the war, we returned to our homes. They gave us hope, and we threw ourselves into our peaceful work. We had a half-built house and began construction. We established a garden and lived like that. We hoped that the peacekeepers would support us,” our interviewee noted.
She said that during the blockade, she had two grandchildren and they struggled to provide food. She notes that the conditions were inhumane, but they had hope that they would remain in Artsakh. On September 19, 2023, she was at school when the enemy launched another aggression against Artsakh.
“We wish there was still a blockade, even famine, but that we could be in our homes. On September 19, I was in the classroom, teaching 12th grade. One of the boys said he was hungry. I stood in line at night and got two loaves of bread. I brought that bread and divided it to give to my students. At that very moment, the bombing began. We somehow evacuated the children. The bombardment started around 1:20, causing panic and wailing. Until late evening, we barely managed to hand the students over to their parents. It was chaos, no one was saying anything. One person said they would open the roads and things would be fine, another said they would open the roads and everyone would leave. It was unbelievable—how could we leave our centuries-old land and exit? We went home through secret paths at the foot of Shushi. On September 24, seven of us left home in our car. I didn’t even close my house door; I left the key in it,” noted Eliza Grigoryan.
They traveled for 38 hours. The children cried from hunger. They were very frightened at the illegally installed checkpoint; she says she will never forget the looks from the Azerbaijanis.
Details in the video.
