70-year-old Vera Aghasyan died in occupied Stepanakert. The cause of death was acute cardiovascular insufficiency caused by pulmonary artery thrombosis, the Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan reported. After the forced displacement of 120,000 Artsakh citizens, very few Armenians remained in Artsakh, mostly elderly and disabled people. How many Armenians currently live in occupied Artsakh, under what conditions? We asked Metakse Hakobyan, deputy of Artsakh "Ardarutyun" faction, several questions.
- How many Armenians live in Artsakh today, under what conditions?
- At first it was easier to find out about them.
There are about a dozen Armenians in Artsakh. All of them came to Armenia with the Red Cross, and those ten remained in Artsakh. There were 2 other people who had died, but at the time that fact was not given much attention. I don't know the dead woman, I don't know who she is, but I will definitely be interested. Only one or two people living there keep in touch with their relatives, others either have no relatives, no contacts, or have health problems.
- They say that they are mostly elderly people.
- Yes, mostly elderly people. A 40-year-old man lived with his father in one of the villages. But I have no information about what happened to them later. The Red Cross mostly keeps in touch through relatives, but few have relatives there.
- Are there hospitals and shops in Artsakh now? How do Armenians live there?
- Azerbaijan shows movies that have nothing to do with reality. There are a few blogs out there that I follow.
One shows that classes have started at the university, there are students, the other shows the next day that there is no human breath in the same area, it is empty. Mostly doing shows. There are about 300 people serving Stepanakert there, naturally, there will be certain products and medical points for them. Let me say that Armenians live there in a camp regime. They allocate special hours, and only at that time they can walk around the city, they cannot leave the city on their own, etc.
The Red Cross transfers Azerbaijani money once a week, there are traveling shops from where they trade. - How did it happen that they want to live in such terrible conditions?
- They are people with some problems. Out of 150 thousand, no matter what, a dozen would be like that. I know they are people who are not responsible for their actions. A woman is sometimes seen in the Azerbaijani mass media, who lives in the building opposite the church, probably the woman who died. There is a man who has mental problems, everyone in Stepanakert knew him. The family members came, but he didn't.
