The Khachatryan family moved from the Nor Kyanq village in Armenia’s Shirak Province to the village of Mush village in Artsakh’s Kashatagh District in 1998. 

The recent Karabakh war forced them to return to Armenia, this time to the village of Marmarashen in the Ararat Province. They live on a temporarily basis in the houses of their relatives.

Sirush Khachatryan, 35, was thirteen when she moved to Kashatagh. Her parents, Aramayis and Ashkhen Khachatryan, have five children. Three are now raising children of their own.

Sirush Khachatryan left the village of Mush with her three children on October 5.  

We met Sirush Khachatryan in front of the Government Building in Yerevan on January 29. Displaced Kashatagh residents were protesting, calling on the government to resolve their housing issue.

Sirush Khachatryan's two brothers and one sister lived in Mush. The other sister, Anna, married and moved from Mush to Marmarashen.

Sirush now lives with her three children with Anna’s sister-in-law, and her brothers and sister live with Anna.

The Khachatryans left behind three houses in Kashatagh. They planted pomegranate orchards there and engaged in farming. Before the war, she had a job in a bakery.  Kashatagh had become dear to Sirush. She says that in recent years their social situation had improved. The brothers are contract soldiers. When the war started, they were in at their military pos.

"On the morning of September 27, our neighbor came by and said that fighting had broken out. I called my brothers, who tried to calm us down. Early on, we thought the fighting would only last a few days, like the April 2016 war and there would be no need to leave the village," she says.

Mush Mayor Petros Avetisyan urged Sirush and other residents not to leave the village.  They never thought that one day they might not return to Mush.

"I didn’t even take winter clothes with me from home. We thought we would leave, the situation would calm down, and we’d return.  The village head told me not to leave and not to take the kids.  He said if we leave, we won’t find our way back,” says Sirush.

She now recalls her Mush home with sadness. She had everything in Kashatagh and now, nothing. Sirush is divorced, her ex-husband is in Russia.

Sirush wants to learn a new profession. She wants to become a confectioner, to start producing sweets.

Her eldest daughter, 16-year-old Valya, wants to study hairdressing or manicure. She says that they have applied for several jobs, but with no response.

"Twenty-three years ago, we left here. We made a living, but today we have nothing," says Sirush.

Kashatagh Administrative District Head Mushegh Alaverdyan suggested that the displaced return to Artsakh, to areas under Armenian control, where they will be provided with a house and a plot of land. Armenia’s government may provide compensation for their losses, but not any time soon.

Sirush is afraid to return to Artsakh, saying she’ll return only if the territories under Azerbaijani control are returned and it is safe to live there.

Sirush's mother died in 2020. She was buried in Mush. Sirush's father, Aramayis, refused to leave the village and was one of the last to go.  

"When my brothers told us to leave the village, my father said we could anywhere we want, but that he wouldn’t leave, that his wife’s grave is there.”

On October 15, Sirush heard that the Azerbaijanis had captured Mush. Kashatagh’s 54 communities, except for three (Aghavno, Berdzor, Sus), passed to Azerbaijan on December 1, 2020. 

Narineh Dallakyan, Sirush's sister-in-law, hosted Sirush and her three children in her two-room house.

 "It is an intense moment. We must help each other. My house is small, but our heart is big. They know that they can stay as long as they need. They have lost their home, their livelihood. What can they do?" says Narineh.

Narineh has six children: three girls and three boys. Her husband died years ago. Narineh's three daughters are married. The boys live with her. She gets paid for tying bunches of greens in the village. Sirush helps with the household chores.

Of Sirush's children, Alen misses his native village and friends the most. His friends are scattered throughout different parts of Armenia. They keep in touch by phone. Alen left his favorite bicycle in the village.

During our visit, Sirush's two brothers and her sister’s husband were looking for a house to rent.