YEREVAN. – Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Shavarsh Kocharyan, who is an eyewitness of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh capital city of Stepanakert between 1991 and 1992, presented his respective recollections at an international conference, entitled “Breakthrough of the Blockade of Stepanakert: 25 Years Later,” being held in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan (PHOTOS).

“[The Azerbaijanis] were bombing the town from Shushi and Khojaly,” said Kocharyan. “People [in Stepanakert] could not even bury [their] relatives; they were waiting for the fog to descend, or for it to get dark, to bury the dead.

“People were living in basements. There was only [natural] gas from the ‘conveniences,’ and this was because had they [i.e. the Azerbaijanis] turned off the gas of Stepanakert, gas supply of the Azerbaijani sector also would have been tuned off.

“Stepanakert could be reached only by helicopter. People [there] were hungry. There was a time when less than one kilogram of flour was rationed to each person, per month. Bags of flour were brought to Stepanakert, [and] the wounded [were] taken.

“Even children knew from the sound as to what type of weapon they [i.e. the Azerbaijanis] were firing from.”