A woman from Kirovabad (Gandzak) told her story about 1988:

“One night the lights went out. The Turks had shut off the power and cut the telephone lines, so we wouldn’t know what was going on. At first, we just thought the power had gone off. Then the Turks started coming, in two groups, from two directions. It was like 1915, the same Turks, the same methods of killing.

“The few Armenians who lived in the Turkish district had no way of defending themselves. What the Turks did was shocking, yet not for Turks. Raping, burning people alive, even burying people alive. Old people too.”

The Armenian priest told his story. “The Turks were trying to break into the church. I was pushing back, while they pushed from outside, trying to get inside. I prayed constantly to God and the Virgin Mary. The door, which is usually quite difficult to close, as it’s very heavy, closed on its own, keeping the Turks outside the church. Is this not a miracle?”

The woman continued: “The Armenians in the Armenian district were able to save themselves, at least many of them. One way they did this was to warn the Turks that if they continued, the safety of those Turks who lived in the Armenian district could not be guaranteed.

“And there are those who say we shouldn’t call Azeris by what they are, Turks. They say we’re being emotional by calling them Turks. But they’re the same people, speak the same language, are culturally the same, are Moslems, and they use the same barbaric ways of killing people. Tell me the difference of an Azeri and a Turk...”