“We Left Everything Behind; Now We Are Starting From Scratch.”
How women displaced from Nagorny Karbakh are rebuilding their lives.
Following Azerbaijan's military offensive on September 19, 2023, the entire ethnic Armenian population of approximately 120,000 were forced to leave from Nagorny Karabakh after enduring a nearly ten-month blockade. IWPR revisited three women previously interviewed during the blockade to see how they are rebuilding their lives after their displacement.
“During the blockade, we couldn’t bring raw materials from Armenia, which complicated my newly started business. Now, there is an abundance of materials available, but the source of creativity and inspiration we once had is gone,” Srbuhi Vanyan, a 44-year-old radio host turned artist, told IWPR.
After the 2020 war, she began painting and transformed her artwork into applied arts. She named her project Min Taqun Tegh, meaning “a hidden place” in the Karabakh dialect, to showcase unknown aspects of her homeland.
“We may have lost our land, but that hidden place now lives in our hearts and souls,” she said.
After leaving Karabakh, Vanyan joined a programme for displaced entrepreneur women. With their support, she acquired a sewing machine, printer and computer to pursue sublimation printing and computer embroidery. She now tries to preserve culture and tradition through her work, creating items like shirts, pillows and tablecloths.
For Vanyan, the hardest part during the blockade was being separated from her family; her husband and university student daughter, Anna, stayed in Yerevan while she remained in Stepanakert with her younger daughter and mother-in-law Anechka.
Vanyan managed to bring her mother-in-law to safety following Azerbaijan's attack on Karabakh, but the 90-year-old died shortly after being reunited with her son in Goris.
In the early days of forced displacement in Yerevan, Srbuhi received distressing news: a video showed Azerbaijani forces entering her home and destroying furniture. "Now I remember my home every moment,” she said, adding, “We have left everything behind; now we are starting from scratch.”
Vanyan expressed frustration with government programmes for displaced individuals, and is hesitant to apply for Armenian citizenship, fearing it would sever her last ties to her homeland.
Legally, this choice is complicated since they left behind significant property, for which she hopes to one day at least receive compensation.
“How is it that people worldwide have property rights while we do not?” she asked. “I’ve worked my entire life to build several properties for our kids' future, only to find that we own nothing.”
“I never thought I would be forced to leave our home.”
Elina Hambardzumyan, 33, fled Stepanakert and has now settled in the Mkhchyan community in Ararat province in Armenia, where she lives with her six children, husband, parents, mother-in-law, and aunt under one roof.
The family help care for the children while Elina and her husband work late into the night in the business she started a year being displaced, producing tilt-and-turn windows.
Armenian state support is limited to 50,000 drams (128 US dollars) per month, which may be cut from April 2025. This amount barely covers rent and utilities, which have increased significantly due to the influx of displaced people.
Hambardzumyan was initially told that her husband had been killed in Azerbaijan’s attack on September 19, 2023. It was only several days later that he managed to reach the family, and like many others, they had to leave. They took just a few items of clothing and the family’s small pet dog with them.
Hambardzumyan said she had struggle to develop her business due to a lack of investment and tools, although she had applied to various women's empowerment programmes, including one run by the Red Cross. Although she has yet to make a profit, Hambardzumyan remains hopeful that the business can become stable enough within a year to create jobs for other displaced individuals.
“I never thought I would be forced to leave our home. I believed that even if all the regions fell, Stepanakert would remain,” Hambardzumyan said. “Even now, I would return myself—even for a short time—but I cannot risk my children’s safety.”
“There is no better place than your own land and water.”
Back in Nagorny Karabakh, Shamiram Grigoryan worked clearing mines left over from the 1992-1994 war.
Since taking refuge in the city of Masis in western Armenia she has worked various jobs, including in a sewing workshop and as a saleswoman, before settlinginto a machinist position at the country’s largest tobacco manufacturing company.
“Although the demining work was more dangerous, it felt more meaningful to me because it aligned better with my humanitarian and patriotic values,” the mother-of-five said. “Now, however, to support my family, I am willing to take any job available.”
Armenian government assistance currently covers only rent, although this is likely to be further reduced from April 2025.
Her elder daughter helps care for the youngest while she works.
“The most important thing is having a roof over our heads; that’s all I think about. If you have your own roof, everything else will be easier,” Grigoryan said.
“I miss even the worst and most difficult days filled with deprivation in Artsakh [the Armenian name for Karabakh], but I keep asking myself: was there ever a way for us to stay?" she said, adding that she only has faint hope of returning and no faith international help.
“The Russian peacekeepers did nothing for us, and while important meetings were held regarding our situation in western countries, they were all in vain,” she said.
Grigoryan hopes that if she adapts to her new job and resolves their housing situation, they will remain in Armenia.
“At one point we thought about going to France, but then I realized there is no better place than your own land and water; Armenia is the best place.”
