16-year-old Lina Yuzbashyan was evacuated from Kaghartsi village of Martuni region. In the framework of “Artsakh: Armenian Genocide 2023. Stories of Survivors” documentary project of Iravaban.net, the girl told that she was at school during the attack of Azerbaijan on 19 September.
A few hours before the attack, the teacher warned them that the situation at the border is tense, they should be careful and not panic.
“We did not believe, but after 2 hours the war began. We were sitting in the classroom, and were happy that we would soon go home, but the attack began and the lesson was interrupted. We all got together quickly; some left their bags in the classroom, and rushed to the basement. Parents of some pupils managed to come and take their children. Every time Those moments repeatedly come before my eyes,” Lina says.
The 16-year-old girl mentioned that her only relative in Stepanakert was her sister, and she hurried to her. Mother and father were in the village of Kaghartsi, soon they joined their daughters and left for Armenia. They stopped in one of the sanatoriums of Arzni.
“The most terrible episode for all Artsakh Armenians was passing through their own land, but through the enemy’s rows. On 26 September, we were forcibly displaced from Artsakh, after traveling for about 3 days, we arrived in Armenia. How much hatred was accumulated among all Artsakh Armenians at that moment, no one can imagine, except Artsakh Armenians. How the Azeries looked at us, there was a smile on their face, no one can imagine it. That hostile look with which they looked at us was a terrible episode that left a deep mark in the hearts of all of our,” Lina says and remembers her feelings when she saw full shops in Goris.
She began to cry when she remembers the conditions they lived in Artsakh in the previous 9 months. “At the same time, we were happy that we were in our land. I now wish for those days, because we were in Artsakh.”
Leaving her homeland, she managed to take a handful of soil with her and her original author’s works, written during the days of the siege. Lina shared one of them, it is written in Artsakh dialect.
“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.
Iravaban.net seeks help from citizens who will voluntarily agree to translate materials into different languages: Russian, English, French, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Georgian, Chinese…
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Details in the video.
