Watch the video: Family reports on their escape from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Albert Petrosyan from Nagorno-Karabakh straps his son’s wheelchair and a few bags to the roof of his old car. Another stage of their escape lies ahead of him and his family. They only spent one night here in a hotel in the Armenian city of Goris. The three are among more than 70,000 ethnic Armenians who have so far fled Nagorno-Karabakh after its conquest by Azerbaijani troops. What did Albert and his family experience? “We drove for two days. My wife, daughter and son were with me. My son-in-law and grandchildren were in the other car. They are now near Sevan on the border with Azerbaijan. I don’t know how they are goes.” Although Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has promised to protect Christian Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, the deep-rooted distrust of Muslim Azerbaijanis, which Albert also describes, is driving tens of thousands to leave the region. “We cannot live with the Azeris. That is impossible. They are a Turkic people.” Albert, his wife Geghetsik and their son Agasi want to go to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. And yet: “We built a house in Stepanakert in such a way that it suited him. Now we don’t know where we will live. I can’t find an apartment that would be good for our son. What can I say? I “I’m angry at the whole world for just watching quietly and doing nothing.” The last ten months, the war over Nagorno-Karabakh, have been hard for Albert and his family. The shelves in the stores were empty. Little by little the thought of escape grew. Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan under international law, but has so far been inhabited mainly by ethnic Armenians such as the Petrosyans. The region is now scheduled to be dissolved on January 1st, 2024. Albert and his family will experience this in a foreign country, far from their homeland.