12-year-old Maral Apelyan came to Yerevan from Artsakh two weeks ago and was supposed to return to Artsakh, but due to the closure of the Goris-Stepanakert road, she cannot return. A group of Azerbaijanis posing as environmentalists blocked the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia; in fact, Artsakh is under siege.
Maral is in Yerevan without her parents; her father and mother are in the Mets Sen of Artsakh. Armine Barkhudaryan, founding director of the “Touring Doctors” health organization, tells Aravot. am that they often travel to Artsakh with the organization’s programs, visit different villages and provide health support to the residents.
During one of the visits to Mets Shen, where Armine says they met many patients, they learned about Maral’s eye problems. On the next visit, they were with an ophthalmologist. The doctor examined Maral and advised her to come to Yerevan for a diagnostic examination.
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Two weeks ago, Maral was in Yerevan. Then they operated on her; she underwent another examination and discovered everything was fine. Maral could return home. But Maral does not know when she will be able to return to Mets She, even though Artsakh is waiting every day for the road to open. “What is happening now is very familiar to me because I lost a house in Syria: now that the roads have been closed, it’s true, many children are afraid, they say, could something bad happen, but I told them: don’t be afraid, everything will be fine,” says Maral. The girl says that although her sister Armine (Armine Barkhudaryan, N.B) takes good care of her here in Yerevan and lives with her, she misses her parents. “In this big city, Yerevan, I feel bad, I am without my parents.”
Maral”s family moved and settled in Mets Shen in 2021 from the village of Kurkyuna in Kesab, Syria. Her mother decided that there was a need for a nurse in Mets Shen and immediately prepared to move there. “Mama said: Maral, get together; we are going to Artsakh.” I was afraid. Big Shen was very close to Shushi.
On August 9, we got a house and settled there. Big Shen goes out a lot, and it looks like our village in Syria. I want to return to my home, to my parents,” says Maral.
She was at the UN office in RA to make his complaint known to the international structures.
Nelly Babayan
