After the 44-Day War, Arega Arakelyan, a resident of the Taghavard-Kaler village of Martuni region of Artsakh, has gone through many trials. And the most serious one was the grave injuries sustained by her husband Pargev Arakelyan during the explosion at the gas station in Stepanakert.
“Every morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, I said: Good God, our Lord, thank you; we survived today”
“Our village is the continuation of Taghavart. After the 44-Day War, Taghavard was left to the Azerbaijanis, Taghavad-Kaler remained ours, but it was surrounded by Turkish posts. I was sitting at home, and a sniper’s laser light was pointed at me. The same happened with my school-age daughter, when she was coming home from school, they threw a laser light at her on the way, and once they shot her and I took that bullet and took her to the police so that they could solve our security issue better. I worked in the primary school of the village as a teacher,” says the 58-year-old woman.
Her husband was a driver. He worked in Stepanakert, in construction, where he drove big trucks. “He was there during the day. When he came home at night, they distributed automatic weapons to the men of the village. The men waliked around all night, guarding the villages so that the Turks would not suddenly enter the village… We were afraid. At night a cat was walking on the roof, my daughter said, “Mama, I’m scared.” Even though I was even more scared, I told her not to be afraid. Every morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, I said: ‘Good God, our Lord, thank you; we survived today’. We didn’t leave because we had nowhere to go…”
“Everywhere started to explode”
Recalling the events of September of last year, Arega Arakelyan tells: “On the day of the last war, I was at school, my daughter was in Karmir Shuka [a district], she called and said, ‘Mom, they are shooting.’ I went out into the corridor and I asked the police officers guarding our school what the situation was, but they didn’t know anything. At that very moment, from one of the posts on our side they started shooting and hitting shells. Everywhere started to explode. The students were scared. The director said, ‘Call the children’s parents, let them come quickly after the children’… we sent everyone away. Our house was next to the school, but it was difficult for me to get even there. My husband was in the garden, my daughter was still in Karmir Shuka, we didn’t know how to reach her. And, if they had previously distributed weapons to the men of the village, by then they had already collected the weapons from everyone.”
Later, Arega’s daughter, Alla, called from an unknown number, said that she was with her friend, they entered the basement of a relative’s house, then reached her parents with the help of the village head.
“Pick all the flowers from my flower garden, do not leave a single flower, and take them all to Samvelik’s grave”
“A van was coming from above the village collecting people. We went with them to the basement of the Karmir Shuka school. The men went into positions. In the morning, some men started to return to their families. The village head said we should evacuate; they have already entered Sarushen… With great difficulty, constantly leaving the men behind, we reached Kolkhozashen through explosions. There, the village head provided the school building and their house to the displaced people. There were many people from Sosi, Machkalashen. His wife baked bread and distributed it to people. We joined her and started baking bread. My husband took someone and returned to the village to get flour and chickens left there. Also, a boy from our village, Samvelik, had died, he had to be buried. I had a very big flower garden, when I was sending my husband off, I said: ‘You pick all the flowers from my flower garden, do not leave a single flower, take all of them to Samvelik’s grave’… We made bread with what he brought; we distributed it to people… Now I think, perhaps it was the bread distribution that came back to us and helped my husband, who, although badly injured, remained alive after the explosion a few days later.”
“The earth, the armature, people – everything goes up into the air with the smoke and falls underground”
When the Arakelyans finally reached Stepanakert, they went to the house where their son and daughter-in-law were living on rent, and Pargev went out to find fuel for the car.
“I again started baking bread for the road and waited for my husband… Suddenly, a sound of explosion… My husband later tells me that he heard a humming and ‘saw the earth, the armature, people – all of them rise into the air with smoke and fall underground. Fire passes over my head twice’. When he regaind consciousness, he started to grab the armatures, burning his hands to climb up, the sky began to appear, but at that moment someone grabbed his leg trying to climb himself, at that moment the armature broke, they fell into the fire again. Tapping and feeling the armatures, he started to climb again and managed to reach the surviving people who took her to the hospital… My friend called me and said, ‘I’m tell you something, don’t be afraid: the gasoline exploded, and your husband burned his hands… I walked to the hospital; I was walking and walking but could not get there. People were scattered. I couldn’t find my husband. My daughter was a nurse; I found her and asked, ‘Haven’t you seen your father?’ And she pointed to a man… his face swollen, all burned… he looked at me and told me not to cry…” says the woman.
That night he stayed in the hospital, and the next day Pargev was taken to Yerevan by the third helicopter. “I cannot say how many types of burns I saw that night. The faces of those people do not leave my sight. Death each minute, death, death, death, so many died in Stepanakert, and many — in Yerevan… When my husband had to be taken to Yerevan by helicopter, his face was swollen so that his eyes were closed. My husband told me that this was his last punishment; he was leaving Artsakh with his eyes closed, without seeing Artsakh for the last time.”
After sending Pargev by helicopter, the Arakelyans went to Armenia by car. “It’s nothing to talk about: it was a terrible situation. Mdaughter-in-law had just given birth, the baby was crying all the time, my heart was bad… in short, we arrived, we arrived,” she says, noting that even after so many things they have went through, she praises God that at least the family did not lose any lives.
“Now we live in Echmiadzin, we live on rent, it’s a badly maintained place. My husband has had many plastic surgeries, another one should be done soon… I don’t know what will happen to us, but if we’ve endured so much, we will probably overcome the rest,” she says.
Ani Gevorgyan