Anahit Arakelyan often spends her mornings at Yerevan’s Yerablur Military Cemetery next to the grave of her twin brother, Sargis Mkrtchyan.

Mkrtchyan participated in the first Artsakh war, was seriously injured, and died in 1999. He’s buried at Yerablur.

Anahit Arakelyan

"May 9 was a heroic day, even though we had many victims, but we had a liberated homeland. Now we have nothing. But I must come here on this day, this is the day of our sons," Arakelyan says.

As we walk through the cemetery, we see relatives of fallen soldiers burning incense and arranging fresh flowers.

There are almost no people at the graves where the Artsakh flag flies. The reason is probably the Lachin Corridor blockade. They can’t make the trip to Yerevan.

Siranuysh Harutyunyan burns incense at the grave of her husband Ruben. He fought in the 1990s Karabakh war and volunteered for the 2020 war. His body was found after the November 9 ceasefire and was buried at Yerablur.