Global Courant
GORIS, Armenia – Albert Petrosyan tied his son’s wheelchair and some bags to the roof of his old Russian-made car ahead of another long drive after fleeing his home in Nagorno-Karabakh this week and staying just one night had spent in a hotel in this Armenian country. village.
Petrosyan, 71, his wife Geghetsik, 65, and their 30-year-old son Agasi, who uses a wheelchair and has severe learning difficulties, are among more than 70,000 ethnic Armenians who have fled Karabakh since Azerbaijani forces retook the mountainous region. last week in a lightning offensive.
“We will never return (to Karabakh). We will never be able to do that,” said Petrosyan, a retired mechanic. ‘It is impossible to live together with Azeris.’
After last week’s victory in Azerbaijan, Petrosyan packed his Zhiguli station wagon as full as he could, including the toolbox he used to earn a living, and the family, along with tens of thousands of people, began the 77km drive to the border in two days time. of other frightened refugees.
It was very difficult to leave their four-room house and a 1,000 square meter plot of land in Stepanakert, the capital of Karabakh.
“We built our house so that everything would be good for him (their son),” Petrosyan’s wife Geghetsik said through tears. “I won’t be able to find a place that will be good for him now.”