Escaping from Mataghis, story of a woman
Julieta Sargsyan, 53 from Mataghis, Artsakh escaped from the village along with her family on the brutal night of April 7. Julieta found shelter at her aunt’s house in Yerevan. Her daughter-in-law moved to Ashtarak with the children, Julieta’s sister is in Masis, others are in Hrazdan. Julieta’s son, Artsakh, 27 remained in Artsakh.
Julieta said that on April 2, at 5:00 AM they heard intense noises of shooting. After calling the Village Mayor and learning that he was wounded, they took the children, packed their things and left the house.
Julieta was 27 when she witnessed war for the first time. The attacks reminded her of the horror those days when the village was in smoke, people were escaping, houses were destroyed and children were crying.
“The village was in smoke. We thought we couldn’t escape and would die there,” Julieta said.
Her son, Artsakh managed to get them to Drmbon where many people were searching for a shelter. They took the “GAZelle” car in Drmbon to get to Yerevan.
“There were 8 women in the “GAZelle”, three of them were pregnant, also there were 10 children. We came here without any documents. It was horrible. Whenever the car would stop we thought they would fire or hit us,” said Julieta upset.
Even in Yerevan, she can’t take her mind off Artsakh, where she was living peacefully with her son and family.
“He didn’t come with us. Said he wouldn’t leave his fellow soldiers,” said Julieta talking about her son’s decision.
Not to frighten the children they told them it was the noise of fireworks.
Her three little grandchildren that are now at their grandparents’ house in Astarak need food and clothes, as they haven’t taken anything with them.
She also said that every time she calls her son, she is terrified of the thought that he might not answer.
“I don’t need neither a house nor anything else. I just want them to live. We will start from zero. If they live, everything will be alright. If they don’t what would we do, just by ourselves, women? I don’t want anything, just peace”.