Ednews presents the article of one of the influential journalists of "Al-Jazeera" Media Network, the professional trainer Mohammad Ghulam Bouba on "Stories of displacement, horror and hope of Azerbaijanis".
Lala Hasanova is sitting three kilometers away from the former line of contact, in front of the house where she had buried her child as a result of an Armenian shot. Mourning her misfortune, she began to tell her stories with full of pain and hope.
Lala's eyes are immersed in the horizons. Her daughter has been killed by Armenians in April 2016.
Lala Hasaona, who used to live a quiet life in Kalbajar 30 years ago, was destined to live life of a displaced person in 1993 due to the attack of Armenian troops. Her safe life turned into fear, and her days of peace turned into misery...
Lala takes a deep sigh from time to time and speaks again: "As soon as we felt the approach of the enemy, we settled in the area, which is located a few kilometers from the former front line, barefoot and without anything."
Kalbajar, where the theater and youth institute is located, is actually not far from this area. Hasan Gaya, more than 60 kilometers, but 450 kilometers with detours are required to avoid the areas occupied by the Armenian army. However, the Azerbaijani government still does not allow IDPs to return to their villages, as they wait for the areas to be cleared of mines buried by Armenians.
When Lala was asked about comparing her life in Kalbajar and Hasan Gaya, she couldn't hide the excitement in her voice: "No life can be compared to our life in Sugovushan, where 7 rivers meet. We didn't know what "Bazar" was in a place that is considered the home of all imaginable fruits. Because there all kinds of fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy products were available."
It is impossible to compare those days with our current poor life with heating system, water and electricity problems.
She added that in 1996, Armenians cut the river flowing from Kalbajar to Tartar, and their lives turned into hell.
The fate of Lala Hasanova is no different from the fate of many of her peers in this village.
And this is 39-year-old Julietta Hasanova, who was displaced from the village of Kalbajar in 1993 during "ethnic cleansing operations" done by the Armenian separatists.
She was blinded in one eye and seriously injured in the stomach by a shell fire. After a shrapnel completely ripped off the hair on her head, she had undergone hair extensions. Julietta, who lost her 2 children and her husband as a result of a mine explosion in 2014, emphasized that the events that happened to her took place on the eve of the 2020 war, when she was running away from artillery fire. Her house was destroyed.
IDPs settled in vast territories that were not under occupation and in other regions of Azerbaijan. We passed by 34 buildings built by the state for displaced people in Tartar district, located 327 kilometers from the capital city of Baku.
The government of Azerbaijan announced that the number of internally displaced persons who left their homes during the first Karabakh war reached nearly one million.
Civil society is closely helping the internally displaced persons. According to Oghuz Umud, director of the regional office of the International Eurasia Press Fund in Karabakh, told the Al Jazeera Center for Public Liberties and Human Rights, the Fund plays a role in building vocational training such as sewing, hairdressing, cooking and computer courses in addition to combating landmines, and provides them with small projects.
Episodes of the decades-old conflict were exacerbated by two major attacks by Armenians in 1992 and 1993, resulting in the deaths of nearly 30,000 people and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis. It got stronger with the last war in 2020.
But as a result of this war in favour of Azerbaijan with the support of Turkiye, many regions and villages, including Kalbajar, were freed from occupation. This victory also fulfilled all the hopes of the mourners.
Lala Hasanova says that despite what happened to her, she looks at life with hope after the last war. Julietta Hasanova, who lives with the hope of returning to her homeland, emphasized that she is ready to return "on her knees". She said she is waiting for the approval from the government that "the lands are now safe" to return.
Translated from Arabic by Rena Murshud
Translated in to English by Elnur Enveroghlu
