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Maral Najarian’s Harrowing Tale of Captivity in Azerbaijan
Editor’s Note: The following special report by Weekly correspondent Linda Berberian is based on an exclusive four hour, one-on-one interview with Maral Najarian. Due to Najarian’s traumatic experiences and the sensitive subject matter, Berberian and Najarian took breaks during questioning. The interview was conducted a week after Najarian’s release in the Armenian language and was translated by Berberian.
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Thank you Maral for agreeing to be interviewed. I don’t have any words… Sending prayers from France.
Thank you Linda Berberian for this detailed article. I was always curious to know the details of Maral’s journey to the wartorn Artsakh and her mission there.
I am also curious what happened to Viken, her fiancee. Is he alive and are there any efforts by the international community to release him also.
Dear Linda ~ Thank you for your brave reporting. I would like to send you a novel I wrote about my grandparents’ escape from the Turks during the genocide. My college students are reading my novel, Armenia’s Fingerprint (see it on Amazon Books). If you send me a mailing address, I will send you a signed copy; after all, it your ancestral story as well. Bruce Badrigian
Thank you for your very courageous interview Maral, and am so sorry to hear about your sufferings. May God bless you and your family, and give you strength and his blessings. I can’t even imagine what you’ve gone true. I have lived the Lebanese civil war myself and was a classmate of Hagop Pakradouni. Glad to hear there was an effort by many to help facilitate your release. Let’s hope the same is true for other Armenian captives. Prayers and blessings from the United States.
Are there any activities or efforts for the release of Viken Euljekjian, like the petition for the release of Maral?
And lebanese armenians still take vacation to turkey istanbul antalya, I hate lebanon I hope armenians leave there to for armenia
Last 10 years at least 50K Armenians left Armenia for Turkey. I hope, soon borders will get reopenned, so Turks and Armenians can visit each other legally. There is no other choice than getting known with each other to save the peace. I am Azerbaijani Turk and I really like Armenian people.I know that Armenians are good people. We have more in common than haters could believe. Till 1990 there were more than 250K mixed Armenian/Azerbaijani families. Love doesn’t care for religion or nationality.
As an Azerbaijani and human being I am very sorry for what happened to her and to her friend. I read the whole report and felt really bad. Innocent people always suffer from war. War is the worst thing can happen in the world. Let us pray for peace and friendship. God bless both countries.
Araz jan, thank you for your kindness, we need more people like you on planet earth. Maral, thank you for sharing your harrowing story. I know this must have been terribly hard to tell your story and we are so grateful to you. It shows there is humanity in the upper echelons of Azerbaijan, and with that humanity, hopefully they release all the prisoners of war and return them to Armenia. The ultimate goal was achieved for them, so there is nothing left to gain by keeping the POWs.
I am an Azerbaijani and I cannot read this text without feeling sadness. Aren’t we still satisfied with all those young lives lost? Aren’t we fed up from all these pain and tragedies? Why can we not find peace? Isn’t it enough?