On September 19, 2023, the day Azerbaijan attacked Nagorno-Karabakh, Misha Chalyan made a critical phone call to his sister, Meri, urging her to move their parents to safety.

"My brother warned me that the situation was escalating and that we needed to get to the basement immediately," Meri recalls. As an Artsakhbank branch was next to their house, she took her parents to the bank’s basement before changing into her uniform and heading to work. 

Meri, who worked in the rescue services, spent the rest of the day helping move elderly people into basements with her colleagues.

Arnod Chalyan with his daughter Meri

Arnod Chalyan lived in Martuni with his wife Silva, daughter Meri, and son Misha. Meri worked for Artsakh’s rescue services, while Misha was serving as a military conscript. Arnod, 67, was a pensioner who drove a taxi to help ease the family’s financial burden.

When the military operations began, Meri lost contact with her brother.

"I tried calling him all day, but his phone was off," Meri recalls. "My father kept asking if I had any news from Misha, and I had to lie, telling him I had spoken to him."

On the day of the Azerbaijani attack, Meri briefly returned home to gather what little food they had — a few peppers and half a loaf of bread — for her father. In the last days of the blockade, food was scarce, but Meri and her family tried to keep at least some bread in the fridge for her father, Arnod, who suffered from diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

"I took the food to the basement and handed it to my dad. I told him to eat it, because I wouldn't feel at ease otherwise. Then I went back to my duties."

On the morning of September 20, Meri received a call from a doctor she knew, who told her that someone resembling her father had been brought to the hospital.

"I immediately ran to the hospital. On the way, near the bakery, I saw the marks of an exploded rocket and bloodstains," recalls Meri.

Arnod had died near the bakery, killed by a rocket that exploded just a few meters away. According to his wife, he had gone to the bakery because the people in the basement were hungry, and they had heard that the bakery was operating.

The spot of the rocket explosion that killed Arnod Chalyan

On September 21, Misha returned from his military post. On the following day Arnod’s family laid him to rest in the town cemetery. 

"The situation was very difficult," Meri recalls. "We were struggling to even find a coffin. The town hall helped us find one and organized his burial."

At that time, they never imagined they would soon have to leave Artsakh.

Arnod Chalyan's grave in Martuni

After losing everything in Artsakh, the Chalyan family now hopes to move their father's remains to Armenia. They have applied to the Red Cross, but so far, nothing has been arranged.

The Chalyan family left Nagorno-Karabakh on September 27. Meri took only family photos and a handful of soil from her father’s grave.

"I promised my dad that I would return to Nagorno-Karabakh," Meri says. "I promised him I wouldn’t leave him alone, but when I see our holy sites being vandalized every day, I feel the need to move his remains to Armenia."

After spending a few months in Goris, the Chalyan family relocated to Russia to stay with relatives. Meri now works as a shop assistant, while Misha, who served in the military for 20 years, has retired and is currently not working.