#lachin azerbaijan

[christianfrederiksen]

Searching for Lachin. Oil monotype on paper. 49 x 76 cm. A Lachin-like landscape of rolling green hills, silvery mountains, and red rooftops. Due to the presence of landmines, I could not travel to Lachin with Yusif Mirza. Instead, I learned about Lachin through his stories, paintings, and photos. The monotype technique turns the landscape into a ghostly impression, like my vague mental image of the place. Most of my pieces are for sale! Email me to arrange a purchase or commission: christianf.illustration@gmail.com

[possil]

CHRISTIANS FEAR ETHNIC CLEANSING

The Christian Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh have justified fears of ethnic cleansing at the hands of Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The Armenian Christians of the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh face yet another threat to their existence. Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, is a mountainous and landlocked region in the South Caucasus. Its population is nearly 100 per cent Christian ethnic Armenian, members of the oldest Christian nation on earth (301 AD). They are surrounded by Azerbaijan which is 99.2 percent Muslim, with…

[eldarmirzeliyev]

Bu gün Ağdamın erməni əsirliyindən azad olunmasından 2 il ötür. Şanlı Azərbaycan Ordusu Müzəffər Ali Baş Komandan cənab İlham Əliyevin rəhbərliyi ilə yeni tarix yazdı və gələcək nəsil qalib olaraq böyüyəcək. Lakin keçmişi də unutmaq olmaz! Çünki keçmişi unutsaq eyni faciələr yenidən başımıza gətirilə bilər. Təəssüf ki, hər bir dövrdə sərhədlərimizdə şərəfsiz, alçaq, terrorçu qonşularımız mövcud olacaq. Hər zaman hər şeyə hazır olmalıyıq! Qarakənd faciəsi və ya 20 noyabr faciəsi — 1991-ci il 20 noyabrda Xocavənd rayonunun Qarakənd kəndinin yaxınlığında, Ağdam rayonunun Mərzili kəndi ərazisində erməni hərbi dəstələri tərəfindən vurulan Azərbaycan hərbi helikopter hadisəsidir. Bu erməni terroru nəticəsində 22 nəfər həyatını itirmişdi. Azərbaycan Respublikasının Dövlət katibi Tofiq İsmayılov, baş prokuror İsmət Qayıbov, dövlət müşaviri, sabiq daxili işlər naziri Məhəmməd Əsədov, millət vəkilləri Vaqif Cəfərov və Vəli Məmmədov, baş nazirin müavini Zülfü Hacıyev, Prezident Aparatının şöbə müdiri və jurnalist Osman Mirzəyev, Qazaxıstan Respublikası Daxili İşlər nazirinin müavini Saylau Serikov, Azərbaycan Dövlət Televiziyasının jurnalisti Alı Mustafayev həlak olanlar arasında idi. Şəhidlərimizin ruhu qarşısında hamılıqla baş əyirik ! 🇦🇿 Qazilərimizə təcili şəfalar və can sağlığı diləyirik! 🇦🇿 Yaşasın Müzəffər Ali Baş Komandan ! 🇦🇿 Yaşasın Müzəffər Azərbaycan Ordusu! 🇦🇿 Yaşasın Müzəffər Azərbaycan xalqı! 🇦🇿 Qarabağ Azərbaycandır! 🇦🇿 #Azerbaijan #Azərbaycan #Azerbaycan #Karabakh #KarabakhWar #Şuşa #ShushaisAzerbaijan #Xankəndi #KhankendiisAzerbaijan #KarabakhisAzerbaijan #Khankendi #Shusha #Fuzuli #Jabrayil #Zangilan #Agdam #Lachin #Gubadly #Khojaly #Kalbajar #Khojavand #Garakand #Xojavand #Agdam #Marzili #StopArmenianAggression #StopTerror https://www.instagram.com/p/ClLCHffjOLH/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[globalcourant]

Türkiye congratulates Azerbaijan on return of Lachin city

Türkiye congratulates Azerbaijan on return of Lachin city

Fast News President Erdogan hails Azerbaijani counterpart Aliyev’s efforts for “a just and sustainable solution aimed at stability and peace in the South Caucasus”. Azerbaijani has announced that the country’s army has been stationed in Lachin, and that villages of Zabukh and Sus have been “taken under control”. (AA Archive) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has congratulated his…

[zvaigzdelasas]

[ArmenPress is Armenian State Media]

An Azerbaijani armed forces soldier crossed the Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line in the border area of Tegh community, Syunik Province at around 05:15 today. The soldier was armed with an AKM-type assault rifle and a magazine of bullets.

Armenia’s National Security Service press office reported the incident, stating that Ministry of Defense servicemen neutralized the Azerbaijani soldier, Armenpress reports.

Following the incident, Armenia’s Investigative Committee has launched criminal proceedings under the relevant articles of the RA Criminal Code. The investigation remains ongoing.

[AzerTac is Azerbaijani State Media]

On the morning of February 28, a soldier of the Azerbaijan Army, Panakhov Ruslan Eldaniz, due to unfavorable weather conditions became disoriented and got lost while moving between service positions in the territory of the Lachin district, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry told AZERTAC.

“The immediate search activities to find the serviceman are being continued.

28 Feb 24

[dougielombax]

Let’s make something quite clear.

COP29 is going to be nothing but a ghastly self-congratulatory circlejerk of genocidally minded fossil fuel worshippers and greenwashing nihilists furiously yanking eachother off amidst a backdrop of caviar and champagne.

Hosted by a genocidally minded petrodollar fascist dictatorship no less.

(To say nothing of Ukraine’s cynical support for such a putrid government! Talk about double standards!)

You know this.

I know this.

Everyone and their dog knows this.

Hosting the previous conference in Dubai was bad enough but this is genuinely obscene!

It’s beyond insulting.

Boycott the shite out of it.

Or at least call it out.

Perhaps both! Idk.

Feel free to reblog.

Leaving a few more news articles and other relevant links here too for clarity.

Some of them are a few months out of date (mostly from very late last year) admittedly but it took me a while to find them.

Reblog the shit out of this.

[mariacallous]

KORNIDZOR, Armenia (AP) — The former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned that Azerbaijan is preparing genocide against ethnic Armenians in its Nagorno-Karabakh region and called for the U.N. Security Council to bring the matter before the international tribunal.

A report by Luis Moreno Ocampo issued Tuesday said Azerbaijan’s blockade of the only road leading from Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh seriously impedes food, medical supplies and other essentials to the region of about 120,000 people.

“There is a reasonable basis to believe that a genocide is being committed,” Ocampo’s report said, noting that a U.N. convention defines genocide as including “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.”

“There are no crematories and there are no machete attacks. Starvation is the invisible genocide weapon. Without immediate dramatic change, this group of Armenians will be destroyed in a few weeks,” the report said.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a region within Azerbaijan that came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military in separatist fighting that ended in 1994. Armenian forces also took control of substantial territory around the region.

Azerbaijan regained control of the surrounding territory in a six-week war with Armenia in 2020. A Russia-brokered armistice that ended the war left the region’s capital, Stepanakert, connected to Armenia only by a road known as the Lachin Corridor, along which Russian peacekeeping forces were supposed to ensure free movement.

A government representative in Azerbaijan dismissed the report from Ocampo, who was the ICC’s first prosecutor, saying it “contains unsubstantiated allegations and accusations.”

“It is biased and distorts the real situation on the ground and represents serious factual, legal and substantive errors,” Hikmet Hajiyev, an assistant to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, told The Associated Press, on Wednesday.

In December, crowds of demonstrators who claimed to be environmental activists blocked the Lachin Corrirdor. Azerbaijan later established a military checkpoint on the road, blocking traffic that it alleged was carrying weapons and other contraband.

In Kornidzor, near the Azerbaijan border, a line of 19 trucks loaded with some 360 tons of medicine and food supplies have been parked for two weeks waiting for permission to cross.

Vardan Sargsyan, a representative of a crisis management working group for Nagorno Karabakh set up by the Armenian government, told The Associated Press the Armenian government had asked for permission for the trucks to cross via Russian peacekeepers and provided details on their contents but so far received no response from Azerbaijan.

“Unfortunately, there have been many attempts from the Azerbaijani side to manipulate this situation,” he said. “We just hope that this humanitarian initiative will be accepted as humanitarian and that it will be possible to transfer the goods.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross has also complained of being unable to bring aid shipments into the isolated enclave during the blockade, although the organization was permitted to evacuate a limited number of patients to Armenia for medical care.

Ocampo said the U.N. Security Council should refer the situation to the International Criminal Court, a step that would be necessary for the ICC to take it up because Azerbaijan is not a signatory to the statute that created the court.

It is not clear if Russia would use its veto power on the Security Council against such a move. Russia has faced persistent criticism for its peacekeepers’ inaction in the blockade.

“Russia, responsible for peacekeeping in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the US, promoting current negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, are state parties of the Genocide Convention. ... They have a privileged position to prevent this genocide. Their intense confrontation due to the Ukrainian conflict should not transform the Armenians into collateral victims,” Ocampo wrote.

[nicklloydnow]

“Force, not diplomacy, has decided the course of this conflict since it first flared up during the era of former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. (Some would say it originated well before, in the early twentieth century.) In 1988, the Karabakhi Armenians tried to break away from Soviet Azerbaijan and join Soviet Armenia in a dispute that developed into armed conflict. In the 1990s, the Armenians prevailed on the battlefield, occupying large parts of Azerbaijani territory and driving hundreds of thousands of inhabitants from their homes. In 2020, the Azerbaijanis reversed the situation, recapturing their lost territories and taking parts of Karabakh, too.

(…)

Diplomacy resumed, with the European Union, the United States, and Russia all negotiating between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The competing mediators made progress on bilateral issues, but the Karabakh issue remained unresolved. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed, along with the rest of the world, to recognize Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity (including Nagorny Karabakh), but the vital question of the inhabitants’ rights and security remained unresolved.

The Karabakhis’ fate was probably sealed in April, when Azerbaijan established a checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor. This de facto blockade deepened in the summer, and the situation became desperate for tens of thousands of people remaining in Karabakh (estimates range from 50,000 to 120,000) who began to run out of food and medicine.

There is a geopolitical game here. A small Russian peacekeeping force was established in Karabakh in 2020. Moscow, which has always wavered between and manipulated both sides, had presented itself as the protector of the Karabakhis. President Vladimir Putin publicly told them his peacekeepers would guarantee their safe return from Armenia and continued residence in their homeland. But the Russian soldiers stood by as the checkpoint was set up on the Lachin road earlier this year, fracturing trust held in the peacekeeping force.

The context is that after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Armenian government began to pivot toward the West, and Azerbaijan—with which Russia shares a land border and an authoritarian model of government—looked like a more valuable partner.

(…)

The military offensive on September 19 caught Western officials by surprise, which became more understandable when news broke that Russian peacekeepers simply stood down and let the assault happen. The impression that there had been a side deal between Moscow and Baku deepened when Russian officials blamed Pashinyan and his pro-Western tendencies, not Azerbaijan, for the fighting.

(…)

In the darker European order of the past decade, where normative values and a multilateral framework have been devalued, Azerbaijan cares less about statements of condemnation from Western governments. The key thing is almost certainly the support of two regional powers and neighbors: the full backing of Türkiye and deliberate equivocation from Russia, which looks more concerned about keeping its military base on the ground in Azerbaijan and humiliating the government in Yerevan than in ensuring the rights of local Karabakh Armenians.”

“Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh agreed Wednesday to disarm and discuss reintegration with Azerbaijan following a swift but deadly assault by Azerbaijani forces, a capitulation that signals the end of decades of ethnic-Armenian rule in the enclave and the rapid decline of Russian influence in the former Soviet Union territories.

The terms of the cease-fire lay groundwork that could bring to a close the autonomous rule by the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, which was won from Baku in a bloody yearslong war after the fall of the Soviet empire.

(…)

“Russia’s leverage is much weakened by what’s happening in Ukraine. We see the Armenians moving away from Russia and Azerbaijan having a relationship with Russia that is more on its own terms,” said Thomas de Waal, an expert on Nagorno-Karabakh and senior fellow at Carnegie Europe, a Brussels-based think tank.

(…)

Azerbaijan says it plans to take back the enclave—which sits inside its borders but is populated almost entirely by ethnic Armenians who have ruled since the 1990s under the terms of a peace deal brokered by Russia. Skirmishes in the years since erupted into conflict in 2020 when Azerbaijan reclaimed areas around the territory. That battle ended, again with Russian arbitration, guaranteeing Armenian separatists control over Stepanakert and supply routes from Armenia, policed by Moscow’s troops. But peace has remained shaky with Armenia’s leaders complaining that Russia is no longer able to enforce the deal, distracted by its war in Ukraine.

A senior Azeri official said Baku had advanced on the enclave while Russia’s troops and arms are tied up in Ukraine. Baku had told Russia about its intentions ahead of time, the official said, but Moscow failed to act in part because it seeks regime change in Armenia. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has increasingly criticized Russia’s capabilities as a guarantor of security and worked to forge stronger links with the West.

(…)

Russia, which still has a military base inside Armenia, has seen its influence steadily wane in the South Caucasus, a territory crisscrossed by oil-and-gas pipelines where the U.S., Turkey and Iran all vie for influence. Earlier this month, U.S. forces began joint military exercises that saw 175 Armenian soldiers training for 10 days with about 85 soldiers from U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command outside the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

(…)

The Azeri offensive is the culmination of a nearly yearlong effort to cut Nagorno-Karabakh’s links to Armenia through a de facto blockade that has led to shortages in food, fuel and medicine. In recent weeks, Azerbaijan gathered its forces around Nagorno-Karabakh.

(…)

Azerbaijan’s moves to weaken the enclave violated the terms of the 2020 cease-fire clinched by Russia, and Russian peacekeepers’ inability to prevent them caused Pashinyan to repeatedly criticize Moscow’s role as a guarantor of stability while it is bogged down in its invasion of Ukraine.

The criticism has caused a chill in Russian-Armenian relations and Moscow has broadcast scenes of protesters demonstrating outside Pashinyan’s office in central Yerevan this week. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that his country’s peacekeepers were working in the region, and Russian commentators have placed blame for Nagorno-Karabakh’s capitulation squarely on Pashinyan’s shoulders.

Analysts say that Moscow is now looking to capitalize on any weakness in Pashinyan’s government in the hopes that one of the opposition parties, which it works with more closely, could come to power as a result of rising disapproval among Armenians over the integration of Nagorno-Karabakh into Azerbaijan.”

“Officially, the 1,700-square-mile territory is part of Azerbaijan and is known by its Russian name, which translates to “mountainous Karabakh.” But to Armenians and the Armenian-majority population of the region, it’s known as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a de facto independent state that has been outside of Azeri rule since 1988.

For centuries, Muslim Azerbaijanis and Christian Armenians, both of whom call the region home, clashed over who should control it. Russian rule began in 1823, and when the Russian Empire dissolved in 1918, tensions between newly independent Armenia and Azerbaijan reignited. Three years later, Communist-controlled Russia set its sights on the independent states of the Caucasus region and began incorporating them into what would become the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

At first, it was decided that Karabakh would be part of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (S.S.R.). Though historians differ on the reasons, the initial incorporation of Karabakh into Armenia is thought to have been a plan to ensure Armenian support of Soviet rule. But the Soviets’ new Commissar of Nationalities, Joseph Stalin, reversed the decision. In 1923 Nagorno-Karabakh became an autonomous administrative region of the Azerbaijan S.S.R., even though 94 percent of its population at the time was ethnic Armenian.

(…)

As the Soviet Union disintegrated in the late 1980s, the long-dissatisfied ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh petitioned to become part of the Republic of Armenia. Azerbaijan responded by trying to crush the separatists in 1988, and clashes intensified in the region. In 1991, both Azerbaijan and Armenia declared independence from the U.S.S.R., and the regional clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh flared into full-out war.

As a result, more than a million people became refugees, and around 30,000 people, including civilians, were killed. Both sides engaged in ethnic cleansing during the Nagorno-Karabakh War—the Azerbaijanis against ethnic Armenians, and Armenian forces against ethnic Azeris. Despite the brutal humanitarian toll, negotiations between the sides repeatedly broke down.

In 1994, the newly independent nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed the Bishkek Protocol, a ceasefire brokered by Russia that left Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan. But though the fighting ceased, the two sides could not agree on a peace treaty.

For the last two and a half decades, Armenian and Azerbaijani troops have been divided by a contested “line of contact” laid out in the Bishkek Protocol. It has become increasingly militarized over the years, and has been called one of the world’s three most militarized borders. The Council on Foreign Relations says that given the close positioning and limited communication between military forces stationed there, “there is a high risk that inadvertent military action could lead to an escalation in the conflict.”

That’s of even greater importance because of the conflicted nations’ powerful allies. Azerbaijan is supported by NATO member Turkey, while Russia supports Armenia, making the area a potential conflagration zone. While Nagorno-Karabakh is small, the geopolitical stakes are high due to its proximity to strategic oil and gas pipelines, and its location between the powerful regional forces of Russia, Turkey, and Iran.”

[jamesadomian]

Friday Roundup! News moving fast …

- 80k out of 120k indigenous Armenians violently removed from Artsakh by the #ButcherofBaku

- After the 9 month blockade many have died in the 3-day traffic jam as they flee #theTurks

- Countless atrocities committed and celebrated by Azerbaijan in the towns and villages of Artsakh: unknown thousands of beheadings, torture, kids, etc.

- NYT, BBC, most other Western news actively excuse Azerbaijan’s #EthnicCleansing because their governments don’t want to be required to do anything by international law

- Azerbaijan illegally kidnapped famous philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan as he was trying to flee ethnic cleansing, he is most likely being tortured in captivity

- Turks have a kill list of 400 Armenians in Artsakh that they are grabbing as they flee through Lachin to Armenia, media and political figures including several reporters and Artak Beglaryan, the human rights ombudsman for Artsakh, who is disabled

- Azeri military is destroying countless Armenian cultural sites as they devour a 3k year civilization

- Almost all the human rights groups and UN are silent due to Azeri Turkish bribes

- Western news actively required by their governments to pretend this isn’t genocide

[sevaghves]

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

For over 230 days, 120,000 people in the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh (Karabakh) including 30,000 children have been under blockade. For the last 30 days, no humanitarian aid has been allowed to pass. These 120,000 people are being terrorized by the fascist state of Azerbaijan. Despite calls from the international community and the ruling of International Court of Justice, Azerbaijan refuses to lift the blockade and open Lachin corridor, the only road connecting these 120,000 people to the world.

Azerbaijan cut the gas and electricity supply. The water reservoir if Artsakh has dried up. Pregnant women are undernourished, one recently suffered miscarriage. A 68y.o man has been kidnapped while being transported to Armenia for treatment by Red Cross. Russian peacekeepers deployed to Lachin corridor to ensure safe passage allow Azeris to do anything they want.

You hear about Putin's fascism and war crimes on the news. You should know about those of Azerbaijani president Aliyev too. Azerbaijan launched 3 wars against Artsakh and Armenia in the last 3 decades.

LEARN ABOUT THIS. TELL OTHERS.

[workersolidarity]

🇦🇲🇦🇿 REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH WILL CEASE TO EXIST SAYS NAGORNO-KARABAKH PRESIDENT SAMVEL SHAHRAMANYAN

The ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh located within Azerbaijani territory, also known as the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh, will cease to exist according to its President Samvel Shahramanyan.

"Based on the priority of ensuring the physical security and vital interests of the people of Karabakh, taking into account the agreement reached through the mediation of the command of the Russian peacekeeping contingent with representatives of Azerbaijan that free, voluntary and unimpeded passage of residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, including military personnel who have laid down their arms, with their property is ensured on their vehicles along the Lachin corridor ... a decision was made: to dissolve all state institutions and organizations under their departmental subordination until January 1, 2024, and the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) ceases to exist," the decree read.

"The population of Nagorno-Karabakh, including those outside the Republic, after the entry into force of this Decree, should familiarize themselves with the conditions of reintegration presented by the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to make an independent and individual decision on the possibility of staying (returning) in Nagorno-Karabakh," the decree said.

The Nagorno-Karabakh region is an ethnic Armenian majority enclave located within Azerbaijani territory.

The modern conflict began with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which had managed the relationship between Armenians and Azeris. As the Soviet Union weakened, the conflict grew in severity.

When the Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991, Azerbaijan and Armenia each quickly declared their independence and resumed their old dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

The guerilla war-style conflict dragged on and by 1994, the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh had won their nominal independence, even as most of the world denied its existence.

But in 2020, after a long period of rearming, modernizing and retraining its armed forces, Azerbaijan launched a massive offensive into Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

The newly modernized Azeri Forces pushed deep into the region. In 44 days, Azerbaijan managed to take several key villages, including the region's second largest city Shusha, and other key positions.

On November 9th, 2020, after the fall of Shusha, a ceasefire agreement was reached and implemented that would see some 2'000 Russian Peacekeeping Forces remain in Nagorno-Karabakh for a period of no less than 5 years to ensure the terms of the peace agreement.

But the peace was shattered on September 19th, 2023 when Azerbaijan launched another massive offensive deep into the Republic of Artsakh territory.

This time however, the Armenian government under Nikol Pashinyan refused to assist Republic of Artsakh forces, and within 24 hours Azeri Forces had mostly overwhelmed the ethnic Armenian enclave's defense forces. A ceasefire was quickly agreed to by Nagorno-Karabakh authorities with Russian Peacekeeping Forces moderating, but the goal of Azerbaijan, to reassert its sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh, had been achieved and a flood of ethnic Armenian refugees began pouring through the border into Armenia.

By Thursday, some 65'000 refugees had crossed into Armenian territory and the President of the Republic of Artsakh, Samvel Shahramanyan had announced the dissolution of the Republic of Artsakh.

As many as 120,000 refugees are expected to cross from the Karabakh territory into Armenia in the coming days and weeks.

#source

#source2

[collapsedsquid]

The Armenian leaders of Karabakh said that all those made homeless by the Azerbaijani military operation and wanting to leave would be escorted to Armenia by Russian peacekeepers. Reuters reporters near the village of Kornidzor on the Armenian border saw some heavily laden cars pass into Armenia. Armenia said 377 refugees from Karabakh had arrived by Sunday evening. It was unclear when the bulk of the population would move down the Lachin corridor that links the territory to Armenia, where Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has faced calls to resign for failing to save Karabakh.

[globalcourant]

Türkiye congratulates Azerbaijan on return of Lachin city

Türkiye congratulates Azerbaijan on return of Lachin city

Fast News President Erdogan hails Azerbaijani counterpart Aliyev’s efforts for “a just and sustainable solution aimed at stability and peace in the South Caucasus”. Azerbaijani has announced that the country’s army has been stationed in Lachin, and that villages of Zabukh and Sus have been “taken under control”. (AA Archive) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has congratulated his…

[notwiselybuttoowell]

The world has just seen an end to centuries of Armenian existence in Nagorno-Karabakh. All ethnic Armenians have left the disputed region, travelling in a caravan of cars over the border to Armenia. The Armenian children now displaced will hate the Azerbaijanis, just as I once hated the Armenians for what they did to me. I was a victim of the first Nagorno-Karabakh war in the 1990s, when it was Armenia that was victorious, and it ethnically cleansed all Azerbaijanis from its lands. I am speaking out, hoping to be a small pebble, lodged in this endless cycle of violence.

Before the first war, inside Azerbaijan’s borders there existed the “Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous oblast”, a majority-Armenian island, so to speak, of mountainous land, with the culturally significant, majority-Azerbaijani citadel Shusha right in the middle. Concentric circles of alternating ethnicities radiated outward from Shusha; Azerbaijanis surrounded by Armenians surrounded by Azerbaijanis and Azerbaijani Kurds and so on – a great inconvenience for emerging nationalist narratives. Being Armenian and Azerbaijani became oppositional and mutually exclusive. Neighbour went against neighbour, and eventually state against state, with their armies wreaking havoc on the other.

During that war my first childhood memories were formed. I remember walking down a dirt road in my father’s village at dusk when the sky suddenly turned bright as day – bullets flying above my head. I remember attending the burial of my 18-year-old uncle, and being scared of the graveyard, where the eyes of the dead stared at me from pictures on their gravestones. He had been drafted into the war and had died there. I came to understand from the adults’ conversations that he had stepped on a landmine and had his legs blown off. He had then shot himself in the temple before his friends could get to him to stop him.

My mother’s family, Azerbaijani Kurds, hailed from the mountainous district of Lachin. I was told we had a big, beautiful house there, with many windows. My mother fondly remembered how my great-grandmother would take her on horseback up the rugged cliffs. It felt like flying, she would say. Armenian forces ended our ancestral existence there, ethnically cleansing everyone who was not Armenian. I never saw our house, never got to fly on horseback, and never saw Lachin, except in the news with its new Armenian name, “Berdzor”.

In school, I learned that the Armenians were villains responsible for all our tragedies; this was not hard to believe given what my family had been through. The Russian empire, we were taught, had transported them into our country as a loyal Christian population from Iran after the conclusion of the Russo-Persian wars in 1828. We learned that the Armenians were conniving tricksters never to be trusted. On TV, I heard Armenians described as “the abominable enemy” and “vandals”. The horrifying pogroms Azerbaijanis committed against the Armenians in our major cities were denied, minimised or explained away as being organised by the Armenians to make themselves look like victims, garner international sympathy and justify starting a war of occupation. The ethnic cleansing of Armenians by Azerbaijani and Soviet troops during the infamous events of 1991 was never even mentioned. Nor did we ever hear about the wilful and systematic destruction of Armenian heritage in Azerbaijan.

I have since come to learn that the Armenians were fed the same types of messages about the Azerbaijanis. We were labelled “Turks”, with obvious traumatic associations with the Armenian genocide, which made us guilty for a crime in another land by another people. The cultural, religious and linguistic differences between the Caucasian Azerbaijanis and Anatolian Turks, who had in fact fought wars with each other, did not concern the Armenian nationalists. We were nothing but barbarian invaders from central Asia with no history and no culture.

After our horrible fate in the 1990s, hatred seized Azerbaijan, and destroyed us. The current president, Ilham Aliyev, took power in 2003 and curtailed free speech, with the notable exception of hate speech against the Armenians. An Azerbaijani is always welcome to hate the Armenians a little more and to blame them for all our problems. The first family has been accused of benefiting from state contracts and business deals; Aliyev has even benefited from the plight of those in Karabakh, using our suffering to legitimise his endless repressions.

Aliyev would have you believe that the Armenians are leaving Nagorno-Karabakh of their own free will – a lie. The Armenians know well what sorry destiny awaits them if they stay. This process is, of course, ethnic cleansing.

I left Azerbaijan 15 years ago, displaced this time not by the Armenians but by the cruelty of those who were supposed to love me and protect me. I fled domestic violence after my father tried to kill me for being gay, and there was no person or institution in Azerbaijan that could protect me. I am as displaced as a person could be, and, through my words here, I may never be able to visit Azerbaijan again for fear of persecution. But I am compelled by my conscience.

I want Armenian children being forcefully displaced from their homes to hear the words that would have once meant everything to me: I am sorry we failed you. One day, when you understand what happened to you, hatred will start to drip into your heart, and you will want to seek vengeance. In that moment, take my outstretched hand and let me guide you back to our shared humanity. For the only true “us” and “them” lies between the perpetrators of violence, and those who reject it.

[babylon-crashing]

The following opinion piece was written by Mark Gavoor in the Armenian Weekly and I am reprinting it here because it sums up better than I can do many of the conflicting emotions I am feeling right now:

Like most everyone who reads this, I am feeling very sad and helpless.  Armenians around the world knew it was likely this day would come, when our enemy would begin a military offensive to take Artsakh. We knew this was more likely than a favorable outcome for the Armenians. We have felt this way since the blockade of the Berdzor (Lachin) Corridor started over nine months ago. We have felt this way since Aliyev began referring to the Republic of Armenia as Western Azerbaijan. We knew, but felt helpless to do anything about it. The government of the Republic of Armenia seemed unable to do anything either. The Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan recognized Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan earlier this year. Many in Armenia and the diaspora were appalled by this announcement and accused him of caving in, but no one offered any viable alternatives.  Sadly, an alternative based on self-determination required the Armenians in Armenia or Artsakh to have a military capable of providing a military defense. The days of grabbing a rifle or pitchfork and heroically defending the homeland are well behind us. The only other option was to wait for another country to step in and make Azerbaijan and Turkey agree to terms favorable to the Armenians. Who would do this? Russia, the U.S., France or India?  Countries rarely act on altruism. Look at the news. Our story is buried on page six, if anywhere. It is not the lead story. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressing the U.N. is a top story. The U.S. giving $24 billion in aid to Ukraine is a top story. We are an afterthought or no thought at all. The U.S. still gives aid to Azerbaijan. Yet the U.S. State Department made a statement: The United States is deeply concerned by Azerbaijan’s military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh and calls on Azerbaijan to cease these actions immediately. These actions are worsening an already dire humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and undermine prospects for peace. Nice words. I can’t imagine they will have any more impact on the outcome in Artsakh than the words I am typing here.  What is the best we hope for now? Will the U.S. and France provide evacuation and resettlement aid for the people of Artsakh? A guarantee of the sovereignty and borders of the Republic of Armenia? Who can possibly make and back-up such a guarantee? Does Armenia become a vassal state of…you tell me? I am not a diplomat, in the leadership of any government or political party, or an expert in international affairs. What do I know? I know that Artsakh is Armenian. We all know that to the core of our beings. Yet we seem to be the only people in the world to believe that. Borders were drawn a century ago, and everyone but us believes that land is now part of Azerbaijan. We cannot do anything to change that or what is happening in Artsakh.  Armenians are in a very precarious position. What is the future of our homeland, our self-determination? I am not sure we even have a paper ladle these days.

Mark Gavoor

Mark Gavoor is Associate Professor of Operations Management in the School of Business and Nonprofit Management at North Park University in Chicago. He is an avid blogger and oud player.

[zvaigzdelasas]

“The armed formations of Karabakh are withdrawing from their positions as part of the agreements reached during the meeting in Yevlakh. As of today, more than 800 firearms, grenades, mortars, guided anti-tank missiles and MANPADS have been surrendered,” the Russia peacekeeping mission added. Based on the agreement, Russian peacekeeping forces will replace the Artsakh Defense Army at those positions.

This is already the second convoy of Russian trucks entering Artsakh through the Lachin corridor on Friday, News.am reported. Earlier, a Reuters correspondent had reported that seven trucks of Russian peacekeepers had traveled to Artsakh on the Goris-Stepanakert motorway.

It is not yet known what cargo the trucks are carrying.

“Regarding the developments in the region, we emphasize that respect for the rights of Armenians and the status of Armenians are a necessity, the security and rights of Armenians in the region must be maintained and the internationally recognized borders must be fully preserved,” Raisi stated.

Iran's stance in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has consistently revolved around preserving the territorial integrity of both Azerbaijan and Armenia, respecting international borders, and safeguarding the rights of Armenians. Based on these principles, Iran recognizes Syunik as part of Armenia's territorial integrity and Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. At this pivotal moment, Iran has the potential to play an active and effective role, aligning with its principles, to help broker a ceasefire between neighboring countries and facilitate the peaceful return of Karabakh to Azerbaijan while ensuring the safety of the Armenian minority.

22 Sep 23