Journalist Nairi Hokhikyan wrote on Facebook:
“In June 2022, I was once again in Artsakh and was trying to explain to people that, in order to prevent its complete depopulation of Armenians, we had to preserve the city of Berdzor by every possible means and, to avoid a blockade, quickly build a road bypassing Shushi from Krkjan toward Akunk and Lisagor.
I met with Vitaly Balasanyan and Arayik Harutyunyan. Both seemed very unconcerned and mocked the idea that there was still a threat from Azerbaijan. They said they had reached an agreement with Nikol Pashinyan: we would hand over Berdzor, while the newly constructed road passing near the villages of Hin Shen and Mets Shen would connect Artsakh with Goris more easily. I realized that these people did not know the Turk.
Over the following days, I climbed Kachaghakaberd with a group of people from Artsakh. Along the way, I tried to explain to more than 30 people that Baku intended, after taking Berdzor, to impose a complete blockade on Artsakh and organize the displacement of the Armenians within a short period of time.
Amid the general indifference, several people accused me of spreading panic.
I said that around 800 of us needed to settle in Berdzor in large groups in order to prevent Berdzor from being handed over to Azerbaijan. All the organizational arrangements were in place. There was zero response because people believed the Turk’s promise of peace.
Later, of course, there was a group of people from Artsakh who came to Berdzor and Aghavno and remained there. But generally, among the people of Artsakh—including through Artsakh Public Television and websites, as well as certain public figures—claims were being spread against me that I was creating panic among people, frightening them, and preventing them from living in the peace that had supposedly been established.
In other words, particularly in 2022, there was a widespread campaign against me in Artsakh. Even the Martakert administration disrupted my meetings with local residents in the region so that I would not present the real dangers.
During those days in 2022, near Koltsevoy in Stepanakert, my friend Arshak and I happened to see two Azerbaijanis who had entered Artsakh using Iranian passports and were working in construction. We handed them over to the police. It turned out that they were indeed Azerbaijanis, not Persians, but specifically Azerbaijanis, Turks. However, because they held Iranian passports, they were released.
Most people in Artsakh believed that after the 2020 war all the problems were over, that Nikol had handed over Shushi and that there was no longer any danger. I was warning that Berdzor and Aghavno would not and must not be surrendered; otherwise, afterward, we would face the complete surrender of Artsakh.
Large-scale construction was underway in Artsakh, people were receiving financial assistance, homes, furniture, and clothing, and they preferred to live under the propaganda of a false peace.
Then came the 2023 blockade, and the same people who had accused me of spreading panic began shouting that everything was over and that we had to leave. When I had been saying for months that we had to endure and find a way to preserve this remaining part of Artsakh, those same people told me, ‘You come and stay in Artsakh, and we will come and stay in your home.’
The forced depopulation of Artsakh’s Armenian population followed. Many now admit that Berdzor and Aghavno should have been preserved at the time.
Today, a woman from Meghri wrote to me saying that I am frightening people when I speak about the enemy’s plans against Syunik. She says that everything is safe and peaceful now and that there is not even a need to rearm the army. But Syunik is filled with Azerbaijanis holding Iranian passports. People have been deceived into believing that they are Persians who speak Turkish. And the people of Meghri naively believe it.
I do not want Syunik to suffer the fate of Artsakh. I do not want people later to say that I was right. Let people insult me now, but let them preserve the homeland.”