On September 19, 2023, as a result of the one-day war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, 120,000 Artsakh residents were forcibly displaced. Only about two dozen Armenians remained in Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to the APA agency, on October 20, one of the remaining Armenians in Stepanakert, 70-year-old Vera Aghasyan, died. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Health reported this and indicated that the woman’s cause of death was health problems. According to Azerbaijani media, the 70-year-old Armenian woman suffered a cardiac arrest.
Vera Aghasyan’s relatives had appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross to transfer her body to Armenia and bury it. The woman’s relatives have been waiting for a month to see when Azerbaijan will finally allow Vera Aghasyan’s body to be transferred to Armenia. There has been no progress in the dialogue with Baku on the issue.
“I cannot comment on any progress, given that the decision and the details related to it are in the hands of the authorities. At the moment, there is no progress in this issue. We have expressed our readiness to contribute to the implementation of further steps if both parties agree. At the moment, the decision is in the hands of the parties. But I can say that the issue remains in the center of our attention,” Zara Amatuni, a representative of the Armenian office of the Red Cross, told the media.
According to open sources, after the Armenian exodus from Artsakh, Vera Aghasyan is the first Armenian to die there. Baku has not yet provided any figures on the Armenians remaining in Artsakh.
Human rights activist Siranush Sahakyan calls all this inhumane treatment. In her opinion, this transfer could have been delayed only in one case, if there was a need for examinations, but in this case, Baku had initially stated what the woman died of. And, according to the human rights activist, applying to the Strasbourg court for the application of an urgent measure will not be of any use.
Vera Aghasyan’s son, Arsen, in a conversation with us denied their willingness to apply to court, which is circulating in the media. He informed that representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross are dealing with the issue and he is outraged by the media’s disinformation.
“They are spreading disinformation without talking to me. Let the relevant structures work and if there is progress in that regard, we will inform the public. The only information about my mother’s death was spread by Azerbaijan. Journalists are making arbitrary statements without consulting relatives and children. What court should deal with this issue? The issue should be resolved through dialogue and Azerbaijan should allow or not allow us to go there. I have already been informed that representatives of the Azerbaijani Red Crescent will soon arrive in Stepanakert and we hope that they will comply and we will go to the entrance to the Hakari Bridge to identify the body of our parent,” Arsen mentioned in a conversation with us.
Only after the body is transferred will Vera Aghasyan’s son detail the situation. According to him, this is the first time such an incident has occurred and the relevant structures are dealing with it, urging people to wait patiently.
Vera Aghasyan is from the Khndzristan community of the Askeran region by birth. She got married and lived in the village of Khramort. According to the son, not only his mother remained in Stepanakert, but also the brother and other relatives. They did not want to leave Artsakh in any way and preferred to stay there, thinking that it would be better to die in their birthplace or maybe there would be a return of those who left.
Artsakh Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan noted that he learns about the Armenians remaining in Stepanakert from their relatives and almost every week they have the opportunity to talk on the phone for a few minutes.
“I have not spoken to my relatives for a month and a half. I spoke to my mother on September 28 before she died and she had no health problems. I used to speak to my relatives 4-5 times a month and everything was normal. All relatives and the remaining Armenians in Stepanakert are staying in a hotel,” the deceased woman’s son added.
Arsen does not want to provide any other details, because he himself does not have the relevant information. The relatives considered it pointless to contact the Armenian authorities regarding the incident, so they turned only to the International Committee of the Red Cross, waiting for the issue to be resolved.
Zara Mayilyan