The only road connecting Nagorno Karabakh with the outside world has been blocked by Azerbaijan since December 12, 2022. The consequences are devastating: families like Naira Margaryan’s have been torn apart. Naira’s six children are in Armenia, while she is stranded in Nagorno Karabakh. Our partners are making sure the children are looked after.
Naira’s children had to spend Christmas without her. Armenian Caritas
Naira lost her only son during the 44-day war with Azerbaijan in the fall of 2020, after the family was forced to move from Kashatagh in Nagorno Karabakh to the Armenian village of Mayisyan. The children’s father is in prison.
More misfortune was to come. On December 11, Naira traveled alone to Nagorno Karabakh to receive a certificate of compensation for the house they had left behind. But the next day Azerbaijan blockaded the Lachin corridor. Since then, the mother of six has been stuck in Nagorno Karabakh while her children are alone in Armenia.
Tatev, Alina, Alisa, Alvard, Lena and Suzanne have been waiting for their mother for over three months. The oldest of the six girls is 16, the youngest just three years old. Naira’s youngest children cry every time they talk to their mother on the phone.
Until Naira can finally travel back to Armenia, two caregivers from Mayisyan and the Shirak regional administration are taking care of the children, providing them with food and clothes. “We have what we need to live. But we miss our mother very much,” says the eldest daughter Suzanne.
When CSI’s partners, Armenian Caritas, came to hear about the parentless girls they immediately arranged for a caregiver to check on the children. The partners provided additional food and hygiene items for the six daughters. They also took over payment of the electricity bills for the apartment.
Naira Margaryan thanks Armenian Caritas and all the people who are standing by her children during this difficult time. She is desperately waiting for the Lachin corridor between Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia to open so that she can finally return to her children.
Suzanne, says, “I pray every day that all the family members who are separated from each other will be able to embrace their loved ones.”
Reto Baliarda
