63-year-old Gyulchora Davtyan says that she still does not believe what happened to her and other Artsakh residents. “Every house has a loss of life. There is not a family from Artsakh that does not have a victim or an injured person, we all die one day, but we are still enduring. We cannot come to terms with human loss, it is very difficult… When you enter Yerablur [military cemetery], you just suffocate, you go crazy. At least they brought our son-in-law, they made it; many buried their victims in Artsakh, it turned out that they had to leave in a day or two,” she says.
Mrs. Gyulchora is from the village of Gishi in Martuni. She has nine grandchildren, six of whom now live in Ejmiatsin, three in the Russian Federation. On September 19 of last year, her daughter’s husband, Gagik Hakobyan, was killed, leaving behind three minor sons.
“We were from Gishi village, Gagik was from Sos village. They got married, had three sons… they were a happy family. He served, he was a soldier, he was a very respected person. His father was killed in the first Artsakh war, he himself was killed in the last war… They say that the sniper shot and he died on the spot.”
According to the woman from Artsakh, she lived in the village with her husband, mother-in-law and father-in-law: “We left the village on September 26. My son was serving in Askeran, my daughter was in Stepanakert. We kept cattle, we had land. The blockade was easy for us: we had a little of everything, we sent to the children. We used to send chickens, eggs… What happened is terrible… I wish that day hadn’t come… We left the village after the gas station explosion. They didn’t shoot much in our village, we were safe. And, until we got to Stepanakert, the fighting was already over… When we learned that our son-in-law was killed, we were all in shock… We took some things from home, but we didn’t collect things rightly: all our thoughts were with my son-in-law being killed. I took some bread from the refrigerator. I shared it with whoever was hungry on the road.”
The woman says that she did not want to damage anything when leaving the house: on the contrary, she cleaned and tidied everything. “I cleaned my refrigerator, left the door open… I left with some hope that I will come back. I had no idea that we might not come back. We burned only the military clothes in the house, because they said that it is dangerous if they find them. We left our chickens, turkeys, pigs, everything in the yard. We didn’t think about anything… I met my daughter in Yerevan on the day of my son-in-law’s wake. The funeral took place the next day. What can we do? God decided to do so. We have to survive and live somehow.”
Mrs. Gyulchora now lives on rent in Etchmiadzin. She says that only communicating with her grandchildren fills her life. “My son-in-law was a very good person. I was in the village in 2020. When eeveryone was leaving, I didn’t because my son and son-in-law were in positions, I was thinking if I left one of their bodies would be brought. I was afraid… And this is what happened at the end… Well, let it happen whatever may happen, as long as there is no war, as long as the children do not fight anymore. Let us be hungry, let us be thirsty, but let there not be a war. Now that’s the only thing I want.”
Ani Gevorgyan