A resident of Khndzoresk: 'When we looked up, the Azerbaijanis were coming like a pack of wolves'

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports: "Videos circulating on the internet show how Azerbaijani soldiers are driving away herds of sheep stolen from Armenian shepherds during the war of September 13. Earlier, we had addressed the fact of the abduction of a herd belonging to the residents of Nerkhin and Verin Khndzoresk. Specifically, Yervand Malunts, the head of the administrative districts of Nerkhin and Verin Khndzoresk, stated that during the September war, Khndzoresk suffered significant losses of sheep and equipment due to Azerbaijanis. The total damage amounts to about 350 million drams, which is a considerable sum for a single village, leaving people without livelihood.

“At around 12 o'clock at night, when the shooting started on our positions and artillery fired towards Jermuk, we were in the Jermuk mountains, we came out of our vantage point and saw that a battle had already begun,” said one of the shepherds from Khndzoresk, Tigran Karapetyan, who was with other youth from Khndzoresk on the Jermuk mountain on September 13.

He recounted that when the artillery began firing less, they assumed it was Azerbaijan’s next diversion. They stayed awake the entire night, monitoring the Armenian positions to warn of any enemy attempts to gain altitude.

“Around 5:30 in the morning, the enemy had likely already entered our positions and started firing on our guys nearby—there were other shepherds on the mountain as well; there were nine of us. I told my friend, Mher, to get ready as we need to go down. We barely managed to escape, getting caught between the dirt mounds, and another guy fled with a 'Niva'—they constantly shot at us while we were heading towards the vehicle. When we saw our boys fleeing, we decided to bring down our herd. Mher entered the herd, and they began firing on us from about 400-450 meters above. There was no other way—we either had to surrender, die, or flee. So, we fled for about 9 kilometers until we reached a safe spot. They could have captured us all; they could have killed us. Thank God we survived,” Tigran Karapetyan recounted.

According to a resident of Nerkhin Khndzoresk, everyone has suffered losses. The Karapetyan family alone lost 603 sheep, a mobile house fully equipped, two horses, and the dogs guarding the herd.

“Khachaturov, my friend, had brought hay loaded on a 'ZIL' for the sheep to have food for the winter. We had to leave even that vehicle because when we looked up, the Azerbaijanis were coming like a pack of wolves. There are videos showing how the Azerbaijanis are entering. That is right above our yard,” said the Khndzoresk resident.

According to Tigran's father, Hamlet Karapetyan, the sheep were acquired through loans. “Every day, the banks call us, but no one says anything. The enemy has stolen the sheep belonging to 30 families in the village; there were about 6,900 sheep—that was the property of 30 families. We have all decided to go to the US or France's embassy; we are determined to leave this village with 30 families. They should help us somehow so we can leave here. No one is considering us, not the regional governor or anyone else. Clearly, no one is looking after us—the village head has no authority; he had his sheep stolen as well. Mr. Pashinyan only paves nice asphalt but doesn’t mention that these people are struggling to keep their homes. I’ve lost everything in two months—I have two underage children who need to be taken care of,” the father reported.

He mentioned that the villagers have decided to gather in front of the embassies to ask for help. In the village, neighbors stood as guarantors for one another in banks, and now everyone finds themselves in a predicament. “I took out a loan, the guarantor comes to our house every day—it’s a mess. The whole village is in trouble, and they take no notice; it’s all a fight with the banks, and every day they call us,” Hamlet Karapetyan informed us.

Hamlet Karapetyan said that he had written to the MP Armen Khachatryan several times, but “not once did he bother to respond. Even our regional governor has not found the decency to come and see how people are living. We lost everything in two months. I called Deputy Governor Nare Ghazaryan yesterday and said we are going to protest in front of the US or France embassy; only then will they raise our issue with the government during their Q&A sessions,” Karapetyan added.

We tried to reach Syunik Governor Robert Ghukasyan and Deputy Governor Nare Ghazaryan, but our calls went unanswered. Meanwhile, the assistant to the governor, Armine Avagyan, told us that not only the residents of Verin and Nerkhin Khndzoresk have faced these issues, but others from villages in the Goris community as well. The Azerbaijanis have stolen not only about 7,000 sheep but also large cattle and horses. “All the data regarding these losses have been recorded individually; the governor's office has gone around documenting which resident of which community has what loss, and all this information has been submitted to the government. Since this is not just Syunik's issue, the same problem exists in the two other regions—Vayots Dzor and Gegharkunik. The government needs to make some decisions to resolve this issue. It's a significant amount of money we are talking about; even regarding our region alone, it involves millions,” Avagyan stated.

She also noted that they are waiting for a governmental decision, which should provide a solution to this issue, as the governor's office cannot solve it alone due to the large sums required; the governor's office has already presented the report. To our observation regarding why they haven’t at least tried to negotiate with the banks, the governor’s assistant replied that banks are a private sector, and she finds it difficult to say anything about that. As for residents' complaints about the indifference of the governor or the governor's office, Armine Avagyan stated that residents expect compensation, which falls under the jurisdiction of the government.

Regarding the farmers' loans, the governor’s office has prepared a note indicating how much loan each person has in which bank and the outstanding amounts, and that entire information has also been forwarded to the government.”

For more details, see today’s issue of the newspaper.