Lebanese-Armenian family searches for woman who disappeared in Nagorno-Karabakh

Middle East Eye

Feb 10 2021

Maral Najarian has been unaccounted for since November, with relatives worried about her fate and angry about the inaction of authorities in Lebanon and Armenia

Najarian's siblings suspect she’s in an Azerbaijani prison and fear for her life – as they accuse authorities both in Lebanon and Armenia of not doing enough to help get her released (Social media)

Kareem Chehayeb

Beirut

For Maral Najarian, moving to Armenia was supposed to be a dream come true.

The 49-year-old Lebanese-Armenian moved last August from economically shattered Lebanon, hoping to find a better future and financial stability in a place she felt an attachment to.

But on arrival to Yerevan, Armenian authorities encouraged her to sign up to a settlement programme in the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh, which soon after she set up home there became embroiled in a ferocious six-week conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Both sides agreed to a Russian-brokered ceasefire on 10 November – but that same day, Najarian and family friend Viken Euljekian went missing on their way out of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Three months later, her siblings both in Beirut and Yerevan suspect she’s in an Azerbaijani prison and fear for her life – as they accuse authorities both in Lebanon and Armenia of not doing enough to help get her released.

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS