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Anush Babajanyan

Nagorno Karabakh - The War and its Consequences

By Anush Babajanyan

Visits to Nagorno Karabakh have been like light trips to a land of gorgeous nature in the last several years. But pain is always felt there. And for many years, such pain hasn’t been felt to such an extent than recently. In this land, pain mixes with decisive character, one that needs to be recognised.

Clashes between Azerbaijani forces and Nagorno Karabakh greatly escalated on the night of April 1-2, 2016. More than 100 soldiers, on both sides, and several civilians were killed as results of these clashes. After several days of war, a ceasefire agreement was announced on April 5 between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

While the sides are negotiating in a ceasefire, the spirit of Karabakh and its people is heavy, burdened with a desire for peace.

A road leads from Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, to the border with Azerbaijan.

Vladimir Avetisyan, 23, travels from Gyumri towards his military post in Aghdam, at the frontline between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. He was urgently called back from holidays in his hometown, as clashes between Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out on the night of April 1-2, 2016.

A shepherd who normally takes his sheep to Aghdam, at the border with Azerbaijan, now moves them to overnight at a safer location, farther from the frontline.

Nagorno Karabakh Prime Minister Arayik Harutyunyan is in discussions with his team, ahead of a meeting with volunteer fighters arriving to Stepanakert from different locations in Karabakh and Armenia.

1988-1994 Nagorno Karabakh war veterans and younger generations arrive in Stepanakert to voluntarily fight at the frontline.

Vagharshak Grigoryan,12, was killed in shelling that hit the neighborhood of his school in the Martouni region at 8:30 a.m. on April 2. The child was one of the four civilians killed as a result of the reignited conflict between April 1 and April 5.

Last farewell to Vagharshak Grigoryan,12, in a procession towards the cemetery of Herher village, where the child lived. Vagharshak was one of the four civilians killed as a result of the re-ignited conflict between April 1 and April 5.

Lieutenant Vahe Avanesyan, 27, and soldier Harout Gasparyan,19, in a trench at a frontline post after an order to hide, during military operations at the frontline on April 4.

Long-time driver of a military official, Davit Gasparyan, 36, was killed while at a frontline post on the evening of April 4. He left behind a wife and three children.

63 year-old Yuri Gasparyan, father of killed military driver Davit Gasparyan, worked in Stepanakert during the Nagorno Karabakh war more than 20 years ago while the city was being shelled.

An area in Karabakh, which people call Whore's Fishnet Stockings, is 30 meters apart from the Azerbaijani border. Bloody battles took place here in 1994, where shells left crossing marks, resembling fishnet stockings. The area is still a dangerous zone and cars quickly drive through.

The house of Hermine Sahakyan, 30, and her family in Talish village, was hit twice during the five-day war. Shelling destroyed her children’s bedroom on April 2, and another one ruined the living room on April 5. The family escaped the house before the shells destroyed it.

“The shooting began in the direction of the [Talish] village at night," Hermine Sahakyan, 30, says," We ran out of the house at 3:30a.m.” Later in the evening of April 2, around 5:00p.m. the first shell hit their house. The second hit it on April 5.

 

The family of Hermine Sahakyan, 30, (center) from Talish, receives free accommodation and food at a hotel in Stepanakert.

Frontline village Talish suffered severely from the reignited conflict. Villagers were forced to leave their houses and leave their animals unattended.

The wedding hall in Talish was one of the most damaged buildings. Almost the entire ceiling was destroyed.

Soldiers repair the phone lines at the Mataghis village military post. The lines were damaged during the fighting.

Soldiers at frontline positions are often those serving their two-year obligatory military service. They just happened to be at their positions when the conflict escalated.

A soldier arranges guns at fire positions right on the frontline,

A trail leads to one of the settlements between Stepanakert and the Azerbaijan border.

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