The struggle continues for ethnic Armenians forcibly displaced almost a year ago from Nagorno-Karabakh, despite ongoing efforts to integrate them into Armenian society. They long for their ancestral homeland, live without permanent residence and face physical, financial and psychological challenges.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a region nestled in the South Caucasus mountains in present-day Azerbaijan, was for centuries predominantly ethnically Armenian. It was integrated into the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic as an autonomous region in 1923. With the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, the ethnic Armenians living there claimed independence and renamed the territory Artsakh. They fought a six-year war against Azerbaijan for this cause, starting in 1988. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, armed conflict would erupt occasionally between the two parties in the decades that followed.

In 2020, a second war broke, lasting 44 days, in which the ethnic Armenians lost most of the territory they had claimed 29 years earlier. Then, in September 2023, after a nine-month blockade, Azerbaijan launched a one-day military offensive, driving at least 102,000 ethnic Armenians from their homeland to the neighboring Republic of Armenia through a narrow lifeline, known as the Lachin corridor. Close to a third were under the age of 19.

Yulia Sargsyan and her family were among those forcibly displaced. They settled in Artashat in the Ararat province of Armenia. Ararat, with a resident population of about 260,000, welcomed more than 14,650 ethnic Armenians last year — the third-largest community of displaced persons in the country.

The 14-year-old reconnected with two close friends from her homeland, which helped her to adapt to her new environment.

Attending the local Little Prince Center, where she receives psychotherapy for her restless sleep and fear of loud noises and dark places — consequences of the trauma she experienced in Nagorno-Karabakh — has been helpful as well, she says.

“Teachers help and they encourage us to communicate with local children,” says Yulia, who initially had difficulty understanding the local Armenian dialect. “I’ve made many friends here and learned new skills, like needlework, which helps me relax.”

The center, run by Caritas Armenia, supports vulnerable children and their families. Psychologist Suzy Sargsyan works at the center with about 50 children from Nagorno-Karabakh and their parents. The children attend twice a week. They eat hot meals and participate in activities, such as painting, computer class, needlework, English lessons, sewing and sports.

Ms. Sargsyan, the psychologist, also conducts individual and group sessions on how to manage stress and express emotion. Locals attend the group sessions as well — part of an initiative to help foster friendships and encourage integration within the community. Such sessions were impossible when families first arrived from Nagorno-Karabakh and were focused on securing their immediate needs for food, shelter and clothing, she says.

The children from Nagorno-Karabakh were initially “lost and alienated,” she adds. However, since enrolling in school, making friends and participating in extracurricular activities, “they feel like they are part of us,” she says.

Across Armenia, as of June, about 17,300 children from Nagorno-Karabakh were enrolled in public schools, and about 3,800 young adults were attending universities or professional training institutions.

Ms. Sargsyan emphasizes the importance of working with parents. “A lot depends on the parents’ attitudes and perceptions,” she says.

Many of them suffer from anxiety, fear, and emotional distress and struggle to overcome their losses from war and their impoverished status in Armenia. Their psychological state impacts their children, who become depressed, emotional and withdrawn, she says. Ms. Sargsyan seeks to frame and explain these emotions from a psychological point of view.

“They went through war, blockade and deportation. I explain that in this situation, anxiety, insomnia, loss of appetite — these are all normal,” she says. “When a person understands what is happening, they can manage the situation.”

The Little Prince Center also offers courses in parenting and the trades, such as hairdressing, barbering, tailoring and cosmetology, as well as work tools and machinery, such as sewing machines, to help parents earn a living.

“We give families stability and skills, so they can care for themselves,” says Anush Zazyan, a social worker at the center. “It’s not about endless help but empowering them to be self-sufficient.”

According to Tigran Khachatryan, Armenia’s deputy prime minister, as of 1 June, about 17,000 forcibly displaced people had found work, despite Armenia’s unemployment rate, which hovers around 12 percent, and more than 1,000 of them registered new businesses. As well, almost 800 health care workers from Nagorno-Karabakh were given additional training to work in Armenia’s health care sector.

However, according to the National Security Service, more than 10,300 forcibly displaced people had left Armenia as of 1 June for employment elsewhere.

Yulia’s father and brother, unable to find work in Armenia, moved to Russia in March. She and the rest of her family were planning to join them.

Vahe Poghosyan, 16, enrolled in the barbering course at Caritas.

“I’ve been studying for over a month and I am already cutting hair, although I have much to learn,” Vahe says.

Originally from Spitakashen, a village in Nagorno-Karabakh, he is living in a dilapidated house on the outskirts of Artashat with his parents, grandparents and two younger siblings. His parents are disabled, and the family is relying on him to be the main provider. Their housing situation is precarious since they do not have a signed lease. Vahe hopes he and his family will not be evicted before he completes his course.

Although the Armenian government has programs to support forcibly displaced people, including a monthly supplement of about $130 for housing and utilities, families often struggle to afford rent and need to move frequently.

The influx of people has created a housing crisis in Armenia, with rents skyrocketing due to high demand. Rent for a two-bedroom apartment, for instance, more than tripled since 2019, from $100 to $360.

In April, ARMSTAT, Armenia’s statistical committee, published new figures indicating that the permanent resident population in the country exceeded 3 million, an increase from 2.98 million a year earlier.

A month later, the Armenian government approved a state housing assistance program for forcibly displaced families from Nagorno-Karabakh who acquire Armenian citizenship. As of 1 June, 2,075 had applied for citizenship, of which 1,437 were granted, according to Arpine Sargsyan, deputy minister of internal affairs. 

As well, nearly 97,000 people from Nagorno-Karabakh were granted temporary protection certificates, which safeguards them under international law from being forcibly transferred to another country.

Armenian law also guarantees social benefits to those forcibly displaced, including a pension, maternity and child care benefits, and a one-time childbirth benefit. As of 1 June, more than 26,000 ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh were receiving pensions and more than 80,000 were registered in the state’s primary health care program, according to Mr. Khachatryan, the deputy prime minister.

As these housing programs get underway, in response to the shortage and high rents, the state has turned public spaces, such as gymnasiums and former kindergartens, into temporary residences. In June, for instance, about 40 people, including single parents with children, were sheltering in the former infectious disease hospital in Gyumri in Shirak province — an old building that had been abandoned — and living in extremely poor conditions, with a common kitchen and common bathrooms. Caritas Armenia was providing food and hygiene items.

“These supports are vital for our neighbors in difficult situations, giving them hope and reminding them they are not alone,” says Gagik Tarasyan, executive director of Caritas Armenia. “Our vision remains unchanged. Inspired by the Bible and the social teachings of the Catholic Church, we strive to create an environment where people are never alone in their time of need.”

Armenia’s small Catholic community and its organizations have taken on greater responsibilities in caring for those displaced, with Caritas Armenia expanding its activities in the five provinces where it serves — Shirak, Lori, Gegharkunik, Syunik and Ararat. Together with the Armenian Catholic Ordinariate, Caritas opened the doors of all its centers to those forcibly displaced.

The Reverend Grigor Mkrtchyan, rector of Holy Martyrs Cathedral in Gyumri, recalls how hundreds of people from Nagorno-Karabakh were welcomed in church facilities and supported directly by local church communities last autumn. Although the majority have moved on to different housing situations and towns — about 20 families whose members chose to be baptized at the cathedral have remained in the city — Father Mkrtchyan says the church remains “in constant contact” with them.

“We urge them to participate in events. They need them,” he says. “The rule is only one: to live in Christ with love and forgiveness.”

One year since Azerbaijan’s mass evacuation of ethnic Armenians, most rapid response programs for those forcibly displaced have transitioned to early recovery programs, including business support, housing improvements and economic development projects, says Anahit Gevorgyan, programs manager for Caritas Armenia.

The organization is working closely with the Armenian government and the UNHCR, the U.N. Refugee Agency, on projects aimed at improving the situation for those forcibly displaced, she adds. With the government, Caritas Armenia plans to study the feasibility of providing more stable and improved housing. With the UNHCR, it is working to raise awareness among those forcibly displaced of their rights as refugees in international law, says Ms. Gevorgyan.

“The more supporters we have, the more we can do,” she says.

Vyacheslav Sargsyan, 67, lived in a spacious two-story house in Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh his entire life. Since October 2023, he, his wife and their two daughters have been renting a dark, damp, ground-floor apartment in Artashat, far from the city center. The house sits on a curb. The main room is cramped and includes a corner kitchen, a bathroom, and a small sitting area with a sofa and two armchairs. The cupboard is almost empty.

Mr. Sargsyan recalls the day he left Stepanakert. “I went to our house to get some things, but the enemy was already close. They pointed a weapon at me, and I couldn’t take anything,” he says.

Then, his health deteriorated dramatically. In Armenia, he was diagnosed with cancer. His wife says the surgeries and treatments have exhausted him, and their poor living conditions are deteriorating his health further. Their only support comes from Caritas Armenia, which has been running a program since 2016 that provides 60 seniors with medication, food and hygiene packages monthly, as well as clothes and bedding twice a year. The program includes events, like excursions and walks, for those who can participate.

Social workers, caregivers and nurses visit the senior Sargsyans regularly, check their health, provide food and medicine and assist with household chores. Mr. Sargsyan could not afford his medication without the support of Caritas.

“Just having someone visit us and exchange a few words is a big help,” he says. “We used to have a large social circle, but now we are completely alone.”

Nelly Tatosyan, a social worker, was among those forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict in the region since 2020 caused her family to move once within the region and then to Armenia, where she joined Caritas Armenia in helping her compatriots adapt to a new life. In June, the 38-year-old mother of two was expecting her third child.

“I just try not to think too much, otherwise you can just go crazy,” she says.

“You must act, use every minute. Hundreds of people need our support; we cannot afford to be weak.”

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