Children Were Also in the Car: They Checked Our Phones and Wouldn't Let Us Go for 3-4 Hours, Citizens Report

A citizen contacted Haykakan Jamanak to report an incident that occurred recently while they were attempting to travel to the Shurnukh community in the Syunik region. They recounted that Azerbaijani forces stopped their vehicle on the road and conducted checks.

“They were stopping and checking all vehicles on the road. We were in the car with four people, including minor children. They took our phones and wouldn’t let us proceed for 3-4 hours. They treated other vehicles the same way,” the citizen stated.

According to our interlocutor, after several hours of being held, they were released. However, they expressed concern about returning to Shurnukh and admitted they were apprehensive about their safety.

The head of the Shurnukh community, Hakob Arshakyan, commented on the incident, noting that such occurrences are not uncommon. “Such incidents happen... right now there are 30 cars, we are going, we just arrived to the Russians, let’s see what happens,” he said.

In a separate conversation, Arshakyan mentioned that he was currently in Vorotan, traveling to Goris when he was stopped by employees of the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia for some questions. When asked what they were inquiring about, he replied, “It was our NSS guys; they were registering the vehicles to ensure we don't lose track on the way.”

It is worth recalling that on September 18, two residents of the Kasakh community in the Kotayk region strayed off the main highway while traveling along the Goris-Vorotan road and ended up in an area under Azerbaijani control. Azerbaijani forces did not allow them to move ahead and took them captive. After a day of negotiations, the Azerbaijani side returned the residents of Kasakh late last night.