Karine Gabrielyan and her family went to Ijevan from the Nerkin Chartar village’s second defense base in the Martuni region.
She lived there with her husband and four children, but as a result of the war launched by Azerbaijan on September 27th, Karine went to Ijevan with her sons and daughter.
“My husband is a retired soldier who now is a shoemaker. They gave us a house in Martuni as the family of a soldier. I worked at the school in Martuni, which is where my children also went to school. But now, the school and the base are under the control of the enemy.”
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Karine’s family home is in the Karmir Shuka village of Martuni, which the entire family defended until the last second. “My three brothers defended the village until the end. Now, the entire area surrounding our village has been captured, but they weren’t able to go to our village. Only the village has remained under our control, but all the forests surrounding it have been captured.”
Karine said that her oldest son is in his first year of studies at the university in Stepanakert, and her daughter is in her second year at the Pedagogical university. According to Karine, her daughter returned to Stepanakert in order to give her last goodbyes to her fiancé who died during the war.
Karine’s two younger children are now going to the Russian school in Ijevan, but the family intends on returning to Artsakh in the coming weeks.
“Yes, my sons love it here and they would love to stay. My older son especially loves it here, but we must return because he needs to go to the army soon. He is already 18. But my daughter does not want to go back to Artsakh after losing her fiancé. My husband also demands that we have to live in Artsakh.”
Despite the fact that her husband could not fight in the war due to having lung surgery, he stayed in Artsakh the entire time. “He was present during the worst battles in Karmir Shuka and Hell’s gorge.”
At the end of the interview, Karine remarked with a smile, “Know that you all have a home in Martuni. If you ever come to Martuni, mention the warrant officer and shoemaker Dolukhanyan’s home, and they will show you the way.”
Satenik Hovsepyan
