Nagorno-Karabakh refugees seek new life in Armenia

DW (English)

Having fled in their tens of thousands, they're now facing an uncertain future: Refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh must contemplate their next moves. DW's Dmitry Ponyavin reports from the northern Armenian town of Dilijan.

Transcript

00:00 left everything behind.

00:02 Now they're looking for any opportunity

00:04 to start a new life.

00:06 Some of the nearly 3,000 refugees

00:08 who arrived in the area

00:10 are sent to this former boarding school.

00:13 As we filmed, two men appear,

00:15 each carrying nothing but a small bag.

00:17 They just came from Nagorno-Karabakh.

00:20 Some of the people staying here say

00:22 that even before the Azerbaijani takeover,

00:25 they had little choice but to try and leave.

00:28 - Go, go, go.

00:29 We were starving.

00:31 For several months, all I had to eat

00:33 were vegetables from my small garden,

00:35 potatoes, pumpkins, things like that.

00:37 - This man tells us he has cancer

00:41 and is waiting to resume his treatment.

00:44 For now, he has to stay in this reception center,

00:47 which has very basic conditions

00:49 and problems with heating and water supplies.

00:52 There is a sense of abandonment

00:54 and hopelessness in this place,

00:56 which is being held together by efforts

00:58 of local volunteers.

00:59 They're telling us that they prefer not to send families,

01:02 especially with small children here,

01:04 because staying here even for a short time

01:06 would be very traumatizing for them.

01:09 Volunteers bring food, clothes,

01:11 and other basic necessities

01:13 that they collected in the town.

01:15 They say they try to approach the refugees very carefully,

01:18 as many of them are still in deep shock.

01:21 - We need to make sure they have something to eat,

01:23 somewhere to sleep,

01:24 so that they can get back into some kind of normalcy.

01:28 - Svetlana and her colleagues take us around Ilidzhan

01:31 to meet other refugees.

01:32 Eleven members of the Khachaturian family

01:35 have been placed in this private house,

01:37 at least for the next month.

01:39 They are planning to buy a new property.

01:42 The Khachaturians left behind a farm

01:44 with many animals and equipment.

01:46 They say the disaster could have been averted.

01:49 - Generally speaking, they didn't do what they should have done.

01:53 - What should have been done?

01:55 - They should have thought about ordinary people.

01:58 But many in the elite only cared about their own business.

02:02 What else is there to say?

02:04 In another part of town,

02:06 the Hakubyan family has found a temporary shelter.

02:09 Parjur was an officer with the separatist forces

02:12 in Nagorno-Karabakh.

02:14 His wife's sister is paying for their stay in this apartment.

02:17 The Khachaturians are trying to find a way

02:20 to get back into their normal life.

02:22 The couple is looking forward to finding jobs

02:25 and staying in Armenia.

02:27 Despite all the shock and sorrow,

02:29 Parjur strikes an optimistic tone.

02:32 - I can't tell the future,

02:34 and we don't know what kind of political

02:37 and geographical changes will happen in the world

02:40 and our region.

02:42 But we should have hoped that one day

02:45 we can return the lost territory.

02:48 This sentiment is unlawful.

02:50 This sentiment is unlikely to be shared

02:53 by many of those who escaped the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

02:57 Most of the refugees believe that their past lives

03:00 are now gone forever.

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