“What lands are they talking about giving back? Who thinks it’s possible to return even a tiny bit? We won’t give back anything”, so says Karineh Danielyan who fought in the Karabakh War.

It was in 1992 that Karineh, now 45 years old, first participated in the war. She can speak for hours about the various battles all over Karabakh that she was in.

During our conversation with her she began to recount various war stories. Her mother interrupted by saying that Karineh really wasn’t able to talk for long periods without resting. Karineh proudly told us the story about the lady who used to sell sunflower seeds and dried fruits in Stepanakert’s Rebirth Square. When Karineh would walk besides her the lady would fill the pockets of her uniform with raisins and nuts. Later, Karineh would hand this out to her friends in the army. 

Karineh relates that, “I participated in the battles in Hadrut, Martakert, Shushi and other areas. The last battle I was in was in the Basharat village in the Ghubatli region in 1993. It was a very fierce battle. I was the only female left after they removed the wounded. I was handed all the bags of medicine in the event that more wounded would have to be treated. Even though I wasn’t a nurse, there were times during the war that I was obliged to offer medical help.”

While treating the wounded in that spot Karineh herself was wounded. “I remember that there were a few wounded soldiers. They asked us to take at look. We approached them and started to treat their wounds. The last thing I remember was applying a wooden splint to one of the guy’s feet to keep the bone straight. Later I found out that a shell had exploded nearby, wounding me in the head.”

“When I opened my eyes I saw a bunch of doctors and nurses hovering about. Even though they were speaking Armenian I took them for Azeris and thus believed I had been taken prisoner. I wasn’t in my right mind and wasn’t able to speak. It was only when I saw my mother’s face that I finally calmed down.” Karineh spent three months recuperating in Yerevan’s Republic Hospital.

Karineh’s central nervous system was damaged as a result of the war. She first received treatment in Stepanakert and later she was transferred to Yerevan. She periodically went for check-ups until 1997.

Her mother relates that the doctors initially held out little hope that Karineh would survive her injuries. “I was standing in a corridor when I overheard two doctors talking. One was telling the other that it was useless to inject Karineh with more drugs, as her condition was too far-gone. Upon hearing this I jumped up and demanded that they continue the injections. Slowly my girl’s condition improved.”

Karineh’s mother, Mrs. Rima, has seen her share of life as well. Her husband, who worked in the Shushi Post Office in 1988, was attacked and beaten by a group of Azeris. The man lost his eyesight as a result and later died.

Karineh’s family was one of the many forcibly evicted from Shushi at the time. “It was September 1988. For several days straight the local Azeris were breaking the windows of Armenian homes and cursing us. I was working in the hotel at the time”, recounts Mrs. Rima.

One day Mrs. Rima overheard some Azeris talking in the hotel about plans to attack the Armenians and drive them out of Shushi. “They didn’t know that I was Armenian and calmly continued their conversation. That same day my boss, who was an Azeri, instructed me to immediately return home and not venture outside.” She went on to say that the Azeri assault on Armenian homes began that evening. They securely locked all the doors in the house but all their windows had been shattered. She recounts that, “We spent that entire night in the bathroom, the safest place in the whole house.”

Russian soldiers, with tanks, began ferrying out her and other Armenian families from Shushi starting the next day. Tanks were the safest form of transport back then. They were taken to a dormitory in Stepanakert where they lived until Shushi was liberated in 1992. They returned to Shushi and moved back into their former apartment. But the building itself had been heavily damaged due to the fighting and the family was forced to move to another apartment in which the mother and daughter reside till today.

Karineh Danielyan, who is registered as a level one war disabled person, states that, “I am content living as I do in the place where I was born.” She is grateful to her war buddies that help her out when needed. The former freedom-fighter, who has been honored with her share of medals, adds that, “I receive a 64,000 dram pension and my mother 25,000. We can’t complain; things are OK.”

She frequently gets to see the people she fought alongside of during the war years. “Now I have trouble walking and I tire quickly if I talk to long. My memory sometimes fails me as well”, says Karineh, a beautiful smile covering her face. “I live comfortably in the town I call my own. My only wish is for Armenians to move back here and rebuild what’s been destroyed.”