The aroma of fresh pakhlava spreads from one of the streets of Masis. It originates from the small workshop “Taste of Shushi”. The founder is Zina Sahakyan from Shushi. “And today, I invented something of my own: I put marmalades in it; I always used to wrap lokhum in it,” Mrs. Zina told Forrights.am.
Until now, she was baking cookies at home, boy on May 20, she founded her own shop. Mrs. Zina accepts orders not only for pakhlava and gatha, but also for puri and jingyal bread. She says that she has no shortage of customers. “I only have a problem with the refrigerator, so I can’t bake pastries with cream,” she says and proudly notes that she was able to find her source of income in Armenia and did not emigrate.
“I have found strength in myself. We were offered a job outside the country, in Anapa [Russia], I didn’t go, I said, if I have to go there for work, I will work in Armenia, in our native land, and I will give the benefit to our people. I found strength in myself and opened this workshop with the money I collected,” she said.
Mrs. Zina is 43 years old, she has six children, three grandchildren. There are 11 people in her family all of whom live in a two-room rented apartment.
Mrs. Zina found her happiness in Armenia, but her mind is in Artsakh and the cruel memories of the last days there. “I don’t want to remember September 19, because when I remember, I’m getting sick. I coul not imagine that we could get out of that situation alive. When they were calling us from here, I was saying that we would not get out of this situation; the Turks have already reached our district. Our house was near the Tsor military unit,” Ms. Zina recalls in an interview with Forrights.am and tells about the psychological and physical hardships she and her family went through.
“We barely escaped from the shootings. We came to the square so that they could not catch us. It was on September 20, the fight was still going on. They entered Stepanakert with their cars. It was visible from our house,” says the woman from Artsakh and notes that the Azerbaijani cars were a few meters away from her.
“I opened the door of the house to get out. They were going in cars with weapons in their hands… There were also Russians behind them, but we were afraid,” she said.
Zina Sahakyan notes that she has never seen armed Azerbaijanis so close, despite the fact that she volunteered for the 44-Day War and prepared food for the war participants. “My son volunteered to go to war, I also volunteered, I cooked meals in Shushi’s hotel, we received refugees, gave them a place, gave them food, and helped them. I stayed there until October 28, they came and said that you should leave, they are starting to bombard Shushi,” she said.
Every day after September 19 was difficult for Mrs. Zina. The cruellest was the day she left Artsakh, when the Azerbaijanis captured her and her family members for several hours. “We were coming in a van, my son was driving. We had not reached Hakari bridge yet when the enemy caught us. There were six of us in the car. It was five o’clock in the morning. They took us into the forest; there was a small post before reaching Hakari bridge. It was me, my children, my sons-in-law and my two neighbors from Shushi. They kept me on hold for three hours, I couldn’t call anyone. I was scared, my lips were blue, I didn’t care about myself, it was my children I was worried about,” she says.
Those three hours were inexplicably hard for Ms. Zina. The armed Azerbaijanis did not allow to lower the windows of the car to breathe air, did not give water. “My son-in-law asked for water for me, teling them that I was sick. In response, someone came and kicked the wheel of our car saying that there was none. Then someone came, gave me a half-full bottle of water: I rubbed my face with some of it. As I understood, they wanted to take us away.” Mrs. Zina’s family was divided into several parts to come to Armenia. The other members of the family, who were going before them, were not aware of what was happening with the other part. Mrs. Zina somehow managed to send a message to her husband that they were kidnapped, and he informed the Russian border guards, after which it was possible to return them back.
“During the entire war, I was not as scared as I was at that moment,” she says.
Narek Kirakosyan