‘Panic grew as we heard that only 40,000 people would be allowed to cross the Hakari Bridge’: Alla Hayrapetyan

Even two months after the forced exodus from Artsakh, Alla, 25, still hears the sounds of missiles, which did not stop for at least a few minutes throughout the day.

“The sounds of the explosion were heard very close. Our defense systems, which countered enemy military equipment, were installed in different parts of the city. The war and the following days were indescribably terrible. This was madness,” Alla Hayrapetyan told Alpha News.

On September 19, during the Azerbaijani attack, Alla was in a beauty salon near the Tsori military unit in Stepanakert, from where the sounds of missiles were heard even louder. Alla headed home, to her two-year-old son.

“On the way, I saw a 7-year-old girl whose shoes broke while running. She was sitting on the asphalt and trying to fix them to return home. I hugged her, and we walked together to our home, where she would be safe and could contact her parents. When I got to our building and almost fainted, my son clung to some girl out of fear because he was very scared. We hid in the basements, and at some point, my husband and I decided to go home to get warm clothes for the child. It was at that moment that they shot at the building adjacent to ours. My husband and I were thrown to the side. The only thing we could see was smoke. We heard people crying. There were many wounded who stayed there for several hours, as ambulances were also shot,” Alla said.

According to Alla, even after the ceasefire, the Azerbaijani armed forces continued to shoot.

“A ceasefire was declared, but the sounds of their shots were heard near the town. The enemy had already reached the Cross in the village of Dashushen; they posted photographs from there and went live. The panic grew every minute. There were also rumors that only 40,000 people would be allowed to cross the Hakari Bridge,” she said.

It was because of such conversations and the resulting panic that Alla’s family was forced to leave Artsakh.

Alla is one of those hundreds of Artsakh residents who miraculously escaped from the gas station blast in Stepanakert. After a long wait in line, Alla, like many Artsakh residents, was left empty-handed.

“It seemed to us that the line would take two days before it reached us,” Alla said.

A few minutes later, there was a blast.

“We were near the hospital, burned people begged for help, asked to pour water on them from the buildings,” Alla said.

The route took about 50 hours. Alla says that the Azerbaijanis behaved aggressively; they were shouting, swearing and threatening. But some of them, according to Alla, spoke kindly and persuaded them to stay in Artsakh and live with them. They even offered water, bread, and sweets and created such an atmosphere of fear that people were forced to take them.

“They had a camera. They filmed all this, so that they could later share it and show the world what kind and merciful people they were,” Alla said.

After the forced exodus from Artsakh, on September 27, Alla and her family already arrived in Armenia and settled in Yerevan.
A family of four lives in the administrative district of Nor Nork. Alla’s husband, Vahagn, got a job at a tobacco factory. Her father-in-law was a participant in the First Artsakh War and cannot work due to disability. Alla also does not have a job yet.

“After registering in Goris, we were offered free accommodation in Hrazdan, but my son was sick and we had to take him to the hospital. Here he was treated at the Wigmore Hospital, and a few days later he underwent dental surgery. Now the child feels good; he just has not adapted yet. And we actually haven’t come to terms with the new life yet either. We will be able to live here until March 1, and in the spring we will need to rent another place closer to my husband’s place of work so that I can also work, but for now we’ll see what happens.

We have hope that perhaps something will change and we will return to Artsakh, but only on the condition that there will be no Turks there,” Alla added.