Mariam Abrahamyan, forcibly displaced from the occupied Republic of Artsakh, told in the framework of “Artsakh: Armenian Genocide 2023. Stories of Survivors” documentary project that during the 2020 war, they left Artsakh with their children, but after the end of the war, they returned to Artsakh again with fear in their hearts, however, they decided that they should go back, otherwise so many victims would be in vain.
“Those three years were really very difficult, because initially they believed that if there is a Russian peacekeeping force, there is no danger. However, the tense situation, the territorial losses, the victims and the indifferent attitude of the government of the Republic of Armenia disappointed the people. Gradually, the hope was lost that we, living in Artsakh, are able to change something, but we still believed that after overcoming that period, a light would open,” our interlocutor said.
About the nine months of the siege she said that it was impossible to explain that period.
“Communicating with other people, I understand that they really have no idea what a blockade means. They do not believe that there really were cases of death from starvation, that people did not even have bread. That’s why I consider all the criticisms that are voiced against the Artsakh Armenians to be absurd, because you have to live like that for at least one day, and then criticize,” Mariam says.
According to her, they were surrounded on all four sides; there was neither food nor medicine.
“First, it was possible to deliver something through the Red Cross, but then there was a process where even the Red Cross vehicles were not allowed to pass. A critical situation was created. It was possible to provide formula milk, but the dates were not clear. We were faced with the choice of bad and worst. However we had made a bad choice. During the last days, there was not even bread. Everyone lived as they could, and the unity of people was very great in those days. Everyone shared what they had at home,” she said.
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Hasmik Sargsyan
