'Our previous house was good... because my mom and dad were there'

Nilay holds the teddy bear I brought her tight to herself and stares fixedly in front of herself, all in silence. I try not to remember the past, not to ask anything. Because both her grandfather and grandmother say that the child was under severe stress, Report informs, citing an article in Khalq Qazeti.

At first, Nilay woke up at night, screaming, crying, and saying 'I want home'...

- Nilay, when I came to you, I saw what a beautiful yard you have. I will bring my grandchildren to play here...

She wouldn't speak and again she was looking not at me, but in another direction.

- You seem to like your new apartment, don't you?

Although Nilay didn't change her gaze, her face changed in an instant, as she said sternly, 'No, our previous house was good.' When I asked her, 'Why?', she said slowly, as if whispering to herself, 'because my mom and dad were there...' and this time she looked straight into my eyes.

I turned my face to the side. Her grandmother, who had been listening quietly to our dialogue buried her face in her hands and left the room. Her grandfather took the cigarette box from the table and went out to the balcony.

We are now alone in the room. But neither me, nor she could utter a word. Because there were no words to say...

That terrible night flashed before my eyes like a movie reel. As if it happened yesterday, and not two years ago...

... Nilay was the first who came to her father Adil's mind. Through the dark, the dust and dirt, holding on to the walls, he found Nilay. He was still conscious. He took Nilay in his arms and moved amid the rubble into the courtyard. Leaving her with people he never knew, he went upstairs again, he hurried to save his mother, and his wife. But it was too late... They closed their eyes forever. Unable to bear this scene, Adil hugged both of them and cried and died at that moment.

For the first time I saw Nilay there. Everyone gathered around her, not knowing how to soothe her. Nilay, who was younger than two years at that time, was crying...

"Nilay didn't know that Armenians killed her father, her mother and grandmother and destroyed their cozy and warm house. Nilay did not yet understand that those who caused that 'terrible dream' she had that night were far away from here and were the most cowardly and miserable people in the world. Because shelling and killing innocent civilians who are sleeping - children, women, and the elderly - from a long distance, tens of kilometers away from the frontline, is an act that fits neither humanity nor the norms of international law. It has only one name: brutality! It was terror! The terror they committed in Khojaly, in the territories of Armenia where Azerbaijanis live, in buses, subways, and other places where hundreds of people died! They chose Ganja as their next target. The Ganja, which once fed them and where they once lived in the best places.

Nilay is crying... She is startled even by an ordinary sound, looks around, wraps her arms tightly around her grandmother's neck. There are many people who come to her, who want to win her heart, who caress her. Some even come from other cities and regions and from Baku. That missile attack launched by the enemy at midnight will likely never be erased from little Nilay's memory."

As you may have noticed, we have put the last sentences in quotes. It is from the article I wrote in October of last year, influenced by that terrible night. Even if it's repeated, even if we say it millions of times, it's not enough. Because we and future generations will never be able to erase these traces from our memory.

...When I was leaving, I felt like I was dropping a heavy burden on the stairs of this house, which our state gave to orphans like Nilay, families of martyrs, and veterans. As her grandfather Zahid was seeing me off, little Nilay with her grandmother Sevil went out to the balcony and waved goodbye to me.