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The war between Armenia and Azerbaijan takes ten days. Both countries accuse each other of attacks and bombings. The conflict over the occupation of the disputed territory of Nagarno-Karabakh began on the morning of September 26.
Armenian authorities say a bomb blast near the capital Nagorno-Karabakh killed at least 15 people. Azerbaijan also says its second largest city, Ganja, has been attacked.
Several journalists from the Russian BBC service have been able to enter various cities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and see first-hand the war situation there. During this time they also spoke with the local people. Here is its description:
We passed through the town of Lachin. This city is near the border of Nagarno-Karabakh and Armenia. Sirens are sounding, warning people of possible bombardments. For the past three days, Azerbaijani forces have been attacking the city’s bridge. By destroying it, they are trying to cut off communication between Armenia and Karabakh.
There are two roads from Armenia to Karabakh. The road to the north runs along the shores of Lake Seven. It is very close to the controlled zone of Azerbaijan.
This path emerges from the first day of the conflict. It is called the Lachin Corridor, which connects Stepanakart, the capital of Nagarno-Karabakh, with Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. This is the main road between these two cities.
On Sunday morning we left for Stepanakart. But at dusk, the bridge became dangerous to use.
Those who work for road maintenance throw gravel, pebbles, stones into the shallow part of the river so that vehicles can pass over it for the time being.
Bombing
As we drove through the city center of Lachin, new shelling began. Sirens sound so loud to warn of air raids that the situation is like an ear piercing.
A police car is speeding down the road and someone yells over the loudspeaker to tell people to go to shelter as soon as possible.
The closest shelter for the BBC team at the time was an underground basement in a supermarket. The owner of the market is a woman named Nellie, who spent 18 years in California, USA, and is now back with her family.
Two bedrooms in the basement. There are boxes of tomatoes, sacks of rice, bottles of brandy, and some shovels. Little by little, the basement filled with people. There are locals among them, as well as some people like us who were going somewhere by car through Lachin.
Some of these people were fleeing Stepanakart to escape the war. But others were moving in the same direction.
Nellie, the owner of the supermarket, gave everyone coffee and some food. She did them while sitting in the basement.
An artist and a warrior
A man with fair skin and mature hair was trying to get out. He wears a wool vest and cardigan. At first we thought it could be a journalist like us.
But it turned out that he was actually an artist. His name is Armenian Grachik. He was a student when the first war broke out in prison. He lived in Moscow, Russia, until the end of the conflict in 2016.
Now he lives in Yerevan. She said she did not seek the opinion of her friends or family before coming to fight.
“They used to tell me, ‘Look, it’s not your job! Because you are leaving? Stay at home. I told everyone I had to go to jail and I left home this morning, ‘”he told us.
Then we asked him why he was going to Nagarno-Karabakh, what were his plans. He had never fought before. Will you fight there voluntarily?
He replied: “I think I can give some direction to the artillery. We artists have a good idea of the place and the distance.”
Grachik has no military skills. However, he hopes to receive training for war. He also thinks that any kind of cooperation in war is important. It can be moral, physical, or even, in his words, “helps with intelligence.”
Return to prison
Although their decision to go to Nagorno-Karabakh to fight this seems crazy, we have seen many Armenians trying to return to Karabakh via Moscow from all over the world.
Even a few days ago, small planes used to operate on the Yerevan-Moscow route. But now Armenians are returning to prison from Moscow in large planes, like the Boeing 8, which often take tourists to places of interest, especially New York or Thailand.
Tourist routes have changed due to the coronavirus epidemic. Now all that has changed because of the war. Many men, now in their 50s and 60s, are seen boarding the Nagarno-Karabakh flight.
Many of them have been there before, 30, 20, even four years ago.
Caution
Gevorg Emmatsakan, representative of the local authority in Lachin, says that the city is not the only important city for the future of Karabakh. “All cities are equally important to us,” he said.
He said there had been no major bombing or damage to Lachin so far.
Some people in military uniforms often interfered in our conversation. At the beginning of the war, the army wanted journalists to be present, but now they are being very careful.
They don’t want any kind of streaming or live streaming. Their concern is that if something like this is done, the exact location of the interview will be revealed.
They said we could make a video with just a few things behind us, because then we wouldn’t understand where we are.
Refugees and volunteers
Meanwhile, the crowd in the basement began to grow as they waited for the shelling to end.
There were all kinds of people: journalists from Stepanakart, refugees from some towns on the border with Azerbaijan, and a few others heading to the battlefield to volunteer.
Some women are crying, they have lost their homes. Others are sitting quietly in silence. They are discussing when they will be able to return home.
Near the basement door there was a group of people smoking cigarettes. They pretended they weren’t scared at all. They said that although they had told us to take refuge here, the place where the bombs were being dropped was far from here.
Shortly after they finished speaking, a bomb exploded nearby. And with everyone, they also hid inside the basement.
Escape again and again
The ancient city of Shusha is a 10-15 minute drive from Stepanakart. The capital of Nagarno-Karabakh is located in the valley of the Stepanakart hill, but the city of Shusha is located next to a hill. There haven’t been many bombings here yet. But it is difficult to find a refuge where to take refuge in case of attack.
Several refugees took refuge in a cultural center in the city of Shusha. There was a bombing last Sunday. The self-proclaimed Nagarno-Karabakh government has claimed that at least four civilians were killed in the attack in Susha and Stepanakart that day.
The capital, Stepanakart, is well seen from the city of Shusha. We recorded a video here for a few hours. While we were there, there were no shootings.
But we know that there are incessant shelling on Stephanakart every morning and every night. Four of our fellow journalists who were at Stepanacart say the situation is deteriorating every day.
Most of the people we meet in the city of Shusha are very old and come from villages close to the border with Azerbaijan.
Raya Gevrkian is a Russian teacher. She said she received a phone call from local authorities and was later told to leave.
“They didn’t want fewer civilians to die. About 50 people escaped,” he told us.
He said that he was forced to leave Azerbaijan in 1986. Later, in 1992 and 2016, he had to temporarily escape from Nagarno-Karabakh. This is the fourth time he has run away from home. Her two sons are at the forefront of the war and she doesn’t know if they are alive, because she has no contact with the children.
Another refugee there was Aida Melkanian. He was also worried about his loved ones.
She said her 16-year-old son had been compulsorily enlisted in the military and one of his brothers had voluntarily joined the war.
Aida says her brother told her a few days ago that he had been shot and is now trying to reach Stepanakart on foot. Because there is no car to go there.
“My brother said he wasn’t hurt. But I could hear in his voice that something had happened to him,” he said.
“The situation is terrible. But the world is still silent. Now in the 21st century and peaceful people are being bombed. It is very inhumane,” he said.
“I can only trust myself”
Neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia recognize Nagarno-Karabakh as an independent state. There is a representative from the undeclared area in Yerevan but there is no embassy.
Sergei Gazarian, a representative from Nagorno-Karabakh, said that Azerbaijan had maintained its dominance on the front lines, but had not done so.
We asked him what kind of cooperation Stepanakart expects from Russia. Any military aid? In response, a tired smile appeared on her face.
“We cannot wait. Why and for how long? We can only trust ourselves. If a war is inevitable, you must first attack. Baku has been preparing for this war for months. There is no reason,” he said.
The war has been going on for more than a week. This is the first time in the last 30 years that Turkey has supported Azerbaijan. Turkey is a very powerful regional power and has ethnic and linguistic relations with Azerbaijan.
Other countries and international organizations such as Russia, France, the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and the OSCE have called for an immediate end to the war through peaceful negotiations.
But this time, Turkey and Azerbaijan say that peace talks can only start in Nagorno-Karabakh, in their language, if the Armenian occupation ends.
They also demanded that Armenian forces, including the denied republic, leave the area.
The Nagorno-Karabakh region is recognized by international law as part of Azerbaijan. BBC
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