The writer Ogoltsov told about his seven-month life in Khankendi

The writer Sergei Ogoltsov left Khankendi after seven months of living in Karabakh liberated by the Azerbaijani army.  He told the Yerevan media civilnet.am about his excellent impressions of the Azerbaijanis with whom he had to communicate in Khankendi. While in the Yerevan studio, the writer did not express a negative attitude towards Azerbaijan to the host of the program, despite the "leading questions".

S. Ogoltsov moved to Khankendi from Soviet Ukraine 37 years ago.  He lived in occupied Karabakh with his family, and on September 27, 2023, when the Azerbaijani army entered the city, he expressed a desire to stay in this city. In the program, the writer explained his desire to stay with the intention of completing work on his book.  After the change of power in Karabakh, "paradise" came for him, as Ogoltsov said, because the electricity was not turned off and he could work on a book for 10 hours a day.

Dedicated to the latest Karabakh events, the book "To Everyone in isolation, or Requiem for the root system" was posted on the Internet after the author moved to Yerevan.

As S.Ogoltsov said, after his departure, 14 Armenians live in Khankendi, most of them are housed in a shelter and provided with everything necessary, including money, at the expense of the international Red Cross.  Ogoltsov lived in his house, but when President I. Aliyev came to Khankendi, he was temporarily placed in a shelter at the insistence of the authorities.

Answering the moderator's question, he said that he had no negative impressions of communicating with the Azerbaijani authorities, including the Karabakh police and the Migration Service of Azerbaijan.

On May 25, 2024, Ogoltsov decided to move to Yerevan to connect with his family.  He turned to an official of the Migration Service, who initially informed him about the imminent readiness of the Azerbaijani passport for Ogoltsov. But the writer expressed a desire to leave, and then a week later the Migration Service transported him to Yerevan via Tbilisi.

According to Ogoltsov, about two thousand Azerbaijanis live in Khankendi permanently – these are the police, construction workers, signalmen, officials and daily utility workers sweeping the city.  There are two supermarkets in the city, which have been combined into one store in recent days.  Armenians can buy goods in this supermarket. 

There is a military unit in Khankendi, the soldiers of which meet in the store. To use the Internet, you need to buy a SIM card, but for this you need to be a citizen of Azerbaijan," Sergei Ogoltsov clarified.

He believes that Azerbaijan will turn Karabakh into a paradise for tourists, as there is not second such beauty in the world.

Answering the moderator's question about the reason for the departure of Armenians from Karabakh, Ogoltsov thought about it and said that "people can always be turned into a herd.

"It was a surprise for Azerbaijanis that there were no people left in Karabakh," Ogoltsov recalled.