Days before the Shahumyan region was handed over to Azerbaijan, the Amiryans found their house in Charektar looted.
The family’s father, Masis, in his anger burned the house and moved to Armenia.
“One day hungry, one day thirsty, I built a home, raised 5 children, and in the end they told me I had 5 days. I came and saw everything in the house was looted, they had even taken my glasses for vodka, the table, the chairs, the computer, the bed, whatever was good, they took it,” he recounted.
Almost all the houses in the village were looted and burned when it was officially announced that a mistake had been made: Charektar was to remain on the Armenian side, as during the Soviet years it was part of the Martakert region. The government that ordered the evacuation within 5 days is now urging the people of Charektar to return to the village.
“If I take these children, what will I do, flee again after some 5 years, this is already the third displacement,” Masis said.
The women and children of the Amiryan family left the village on the 8th day of the war and moved to Charentsavan. They have lost their home, their work.
Until they find work, they will try to resolve their urgent problems through the support programs provided by the government, but the process is dragging on.
The Charektar municipality announces a program to rebuild the houses with state funds. But until then, the Amiryans and the people of Charektar left homeless like them must still resolve their housing problem in the coming months, perhaps years.
