Artak vardanyan biography template

“When children lose their father, they can find solace with their mother, but when they lose their mother, they cannot find solace with their father,” said 38-year-old Artak Vardanyan, capturing his family’s tragedy. A year ago, his wife died in a gasoline warehouse explosion near  Stepanakert, Artsakh, and now Vardanyan is raising their four young children by himself.

The Vardanyan family is from Sznek village in the Askeran region of Artsakh. After their village came under Azerbaijani control following the war in 2020, they moved to Stepanakert to rent a home. During the nine months of the blockade of Artsakh that followed, Artak and his wife Narine struggled to find food and necessities for their children. Narine often stood in long lines for bread with the two older children, Zoya and Davit. 

On September 19, 2023, when Azerbaijan launched an attack, the family, like many others, searched for fuel and faced the grim reality of being forced to leave Artsakh. On September 25, Narine and Zoya waited in line to get fuel, but no gas stations received gasoline that day. Zoya went home with instructions to wait there, while Narine went to the fuel depot. This was the last conversation between the mother and daughter.