“It is absurd to speak about Azerbaijan’s ‘integrity’ and return of any regions. We did not leave our settlements on our own will, but under Azerbaijan’s pressure I do not want to experience again what I experienced during Azerbaijan’s aggression. They are talking about autonomy today, but we are well aware of what such autonomy means. Let us remember Nakhichevan’s autonomy – autonomy without Armenians in Nakhichevan,” said Rafik Melkumyan, a resident of the village of Giut, Kashatagh region, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).

“Of course, we feel pain when we recall the past… Sometimes I do not want to recall those hard and terrible days, when Azeris attacked out village… Our family was lucky – we got out safe and sound, but without property. In a moment, my family, as many others, lost everything… Unlike hundreds, even thousands, of our fellow citizens we got out safe and sound. And now that international organizations are making statements on the return of refugees, I cannot understand how they are going to apply this in practice… I cannot imagine how a man, during his short life, can become a refugee several times. It is easy to sit in easy chairs and decide people’s fate,” Melkumyan said.