Armine Verdyan is originally from Northern Artsakh. Her grandfather and grandmother were intellectuals from the villages of Manashid and Buzlukh in the Shahumyan region, who were also displaced and settled in Stepanakert. Armine’s parents got married and settled in Yerevan, but when the Artsakh movement began, her father decided that they should return to Artsakh.
“We lived happily and carefree in the Artsakh paradise. I got married in Stepanakert, I have 3 minor children, two of whom are twins. My husband, Eduard, and I lived a happy family life, but in 2020, the 44-Day War disrupted all of our peace. I was aware of the war days, of the life in the basement since I was a child, but it is different when you are faced with all of that with your young children. We were in the basement, confused and scared, when my soldier husband approached us and said that war had begun. My brother urged us to send the women and children to Yerevan. My husband took us to Goris and turned back, saying that it was his duty to return to the positions. We did not live for 44 days, we did not sleep or eat, and one day we received the news that my cousin, Vahe Verdyan, had been killed. He was killed in Martuni…. Seven days later, it was November 9 [the day when the war ended with Armenian side’s defeat]. When we woke up, my brother called and said that everything was over. I did not understand what had ended when we had so many victims and territorial losses. My husband called and without thinking, I asked when we would come to Artsakh. And Eduard came after us, and on the way home, seeing the flags of Turkey and Azerbaijan near Shushi, I started crying and I cried all the way to Stepanakert. We arrived with indescribable emotions and when I approached our apartment, I kissed the door,” the young woman said, crying.
It was a difficult and uncertain situation, but our interlocutor and other families from Artsakh continued to live in their homeland. They withstood every difficulty until the next test, the blockade of Artsakh. Azerbaijan tightened its grip day by day, and Artsakh was in dire straits due to the lack of food, medicine, fuel, gas supply, and electricity.
“During the siege, it was very difficult to take care of the needs of my 3 minor children, and they really needed sweets. There was nothing, but there was hope that we would be in our land. We were trying to find some food through acquaintances in the villages, so that we could at least give it to the children. We were living without electricity and gas. The situation was getting worse every day, there was no hope of help from anywhere, but despite the difficulties, we could not imagine our life without Artsakh. I remember September 19 like it was today. My husband had left the positions a week ago, but the next day he was called back. I was very worried. We quickly got home, my children washed their hands, and I put the food on the table, and suddenly we heard the sounds of shells. I saw the smoke of shells from our kitchen window, I gasped; I did not want to believe what I saw, but the shelling intensified. At that moment, my neighbor opened the door and said, “Armine, why are you standing there frozen? Go down to the basement with the children quickly,” Armine recalled.
She could not contact her husband. They spent the night in the basement in a very anxious, scared and panicked state. The next day, a ceasefire was declared, but the woman had no news from her husband. Eduard’s uncle and his son were also in positions and there was no news from them either.
“Two days later, we learned that Eduard’s uncle, freedom fighter Artur Aghajanyan (Arjuk), had been killed. We took that news very hard and I couldn’t even talk to my children because I still hadn’t heard from my husband. I was in a difficult mental state until he finally came back alive. In those difficult moments, they decided to move my uncle’s body to Yerablur [military cemetery in Yerevan, Armenia]. The population was preparing for deportation, and my husband didn’t want us to go. During our 10 years of marriage, I had never seen him so distressed. On September 25, we gathered to say goodbye, but he didn’t leave the house: he had been sitting at home for several hours, we couldn’t convince him to get out. He has good friends. They explained and convinced him and decided that we would leave together by car. In a tense and uncertain state, we were forced to leave everything and somehow fit into our car with 7 people, and set off. We were thinking only about salvation. We were very worried, we didn’t know where we were going, how we would cross the Hakkari Bridge. When we reached Goris, a strange feeling overwhelmed us. We were saved, but from what? We survived, but we were not alive,” the Artsakh woman said sorrowfully.
They stayed in Yerevan at a relative’s house for a while, then moved to Charentsavan. Armine’s husband found a job in Yerevan and was traveling back and forth every day. The difficulties were many, and they decided to live in Yerevan, where Eduard worked.
“Loosing everything and starting from scratch, having neither your house nor anything… My twin children are in the 1st grade, my eldest son is in the 3rd grade, and we have to provide for them. Now it has been decided that after March the housing assistance provided to Artsakh residents will be stopped. I and other Artsakh residents are going through great difficulties. With some work that we find, we somehow take care of our needs, and we spend the 50 thousand drams allocated on housing. If the program is stopped, it will be impossible to live. It is not possible to purchase an apartment with the funds allocated under the presented housing assistance program. It is not possible, right, that we do not want to benefit from the program? We all want, but it is impossible. And I find it hard to believe in the return. The Turks will not leave Artsakh without a war. When did the Turk spare the Armenian? It is impossible to live with the Turks,” Armine said grievously.
Details in the video.
Zara Mayilyan