Lusine Tonoyan, forcibly displaced from the occupied Republic of Artsakh, told in the framework of “Artsakh: Armenian Genocide 2023. Stories of Survivors” documentary project that she was forcibly displaced from Stepanakert, the capital city of the occupied Artsakh Republic.
She says that in 2020, they thought that the war would last for a few days, they moved from Artsakh to Yerevan with the hope that they would return in 1-2 days.
“We didn’t take anything with us; the war lasted 44 days, after which we lost our ancestral lands. My roots are from Hadrut, the pain was great, because along with the land, we lost many close people. We all had changed after the war, our goals had changed, we were stronger and more confident,” Lusine says.
She says that during the siege of Artsakh, they thought that it was the next tricks of Azerbaijan, everything would be fine, and we thought so until the end.
“During the blockade, it was very difficult to work because everything ran out within months. The most difficult thing was to find bread. We stood in line for hours, but we took it all as a joke. There is no gasoline, we are walking, and it is very good. It is a healthy lifestyle. No chips and cola, very good. It is a healthy lifestyle. We used to joke about everything. We found good in everything and tried to live with that good. However, when we returned home, we realized that we are living in a bitter reality, a four-year-old citizen of Artsakh has seen three wars,” Lusine says in a conversation with Iravaban.net.
According to her, they did not even imagine that one day they will have to be displaced from Artsakh. They thought that it would be possible to live without bread and chocolate, but it would not be possible to live without Artsakh.
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Details in the video.
Hasmik Sargsyan
