BBC entered the disputed area of ​​Nagorno Karabakh: “This is a horrible situation, but the world has remained silent”

Armenia and Azerbaijan continue to accuse each other of attacks and bombings in the conflict over the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region.

Armenian authorities maintain that Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno Karabakh is coming under artillery fire, while Azerbaijan says its second city, Ganya, has been severely bombed.

A team from the BBC Russian Service visited various locations in the enclave and he was able to see the fighting taking place in the distance, as well as talk to the local population.

We traveled through Lanchin – a town near the border between Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia. Sirens sounds are heard, a warning of possible artillery attack. The Azeri army has been attacking the bridge of this town for three days, trying to block the access road between Armenia and Karabakh.

There are two highways connecting Armenia and Karabakh. The northern one, on the shore of Lake Sevan, is too close to the areas controlled by Azerbaijan. From the first day of the conflict, it was blocked. “The Lanchin corridor” It is the main route from Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, to the Armenian capital of Yerevan.

We managed to start in the direction of Stepanakert on Sunday morning, but as night falls the bridge becomes too dangerous to travel. Road workers pour gravel into the river basin so that vehicles can cross over a temporary surface.

As we pass through the center of Lachin, new bombardments begin and the air raid sirens are deafening. A police vehicle streaks down the street, a voice over the loudspeaker warning people to take shelter as soon as possible.

For the BBC team, the closest shelter is the basement of a supermarket. Its owner, a woman named Nelly, lived 17 years in California before deciding to return to her homeland with her family.

Two rooms storing boxes of tomatoes, sacks of rice, bottles of brandy and shovels, are slowly filling up with people. Here are locals and others who, like us, passed through Lanchin and were surprised on the street.

Some of these people were leaving Stepanakert trying to flee the fighting. The others were heading there.

Nelly offers everyone coffee and food, which she prepares right here in the basement.

A thin, gray-haired man in a woolen sweater and vest appears out of place. The first thing we think of is that he is a fellow journalist.

But it turns out GRAMrachik Armenakian is an artist. He was a student during the First Karabakh War. In 2016, the last time there was heavy fighting, he was living in Moscow.

“They would have told me I had no cards on this matter. ‘Why are you going there? Stay home!” I just told everyone that I needed to go to Karabakh and went out this morning, “he relates.

We cannot help but ask Grachik what he plans to do in Nagorno Karabakh, as never fought in a war. Are you volunteering?

“I think it could help the artillery with directions,” he says. “We artists have a good sense of space.”

His decision to go fight in Nagorno Karabakh may sound eccentric and strange, but we have seen how dozens of Armenians from all over the world are arriving in Karabakh via Moscow.

Instead of the smaller planes that covered the Yerevan-Moscow route, today there are huge Boeing-777s taking off – the kind of planes typically reserved for transporting tourists to popular vacation destinations, like New York or Thailand.

Gevorg Mnatsakan, representative of the local authority, says that Lachin is not the only locality important for the future of Karabakh. “All cities and towns are equally important to us.”

It indicates that so far there has been no serious bombing or damage to Lachin.

Our conversation is constantly interrupted by men in uniform. At the beginning of this recent conflict, the army sought the presence of journalists in the area, but now they are much more cautious.

They don’t want there to be live webcasts or direct broadcasts, because they are concerned that the exact location of the interview is revealed.

We can only film against a neutral background, so that nothing in the panorama can give away where we are.

Back in the basement, the crowd grows larger as we wait for the shelling to stop.

There are all kinds of people here: journalists who have left Stepanakert, some refugees from the villages bordering the Azeri border, volunteers on their way to the battle zone.

Some women cry, regretting having left their homes, while others, more composed, calmly discuss when they could return.

A couple of men smoke at the basement entrance, pretending not to be scared. They maintain that although we have been warned to take shelter, the current bombing is happening as far away as Stepanakert.

As soon as they end up saying that, aa bomb detonates very close. They quickly hide in the basement with the rest.

The ancient city of Shusha is 10-15 minutes by car from Stepanakert. The capital is in a valley, while Shusha is on a hillside. Although it receives less artillery fire, when it happens it is more difficult to find a basement to take refuge.

On Sunday, a cultural center in Shusha where refugees were hiding was hit by a bomb. The self-styled government of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh denounced that at least four civilians died that day, in Shusha and in Stepanakert.

Stepanakert can be seen very well from Shusha. Filming us here for a couple of hours and during that there is no bombing.

But we know that every morning and every night Stepanakert is relentlessly bombarded. Those fellow journalists who stayed in Stepanakert say the situation is getting worse by the day.

In Shcha we meet people, most of them very old, who have come from the villages near the border with Azerbaijan.

“I wanted to avoid as many civilian casualties as possible. About 50 people left,” he tells us.

In 1988 she was forced to leave Azerbaijan, in 1992 and in 2016 she also had to flee Nagorno Karabakh temporarily. This is the fourth time you have left your home. He has two children at the front and does not know if they are still alive since there is no communication between them.

Aida Melkanian, another woman in the refugee group, is also concerned for her loved ones. His son who was conscripted into the army at the age of 18 and a brother who volunteered to fight.

Aida says she found out about her brother a few days ago: he told him he was under fire and that he would try to reach Stepenakert on foot. There is no transportation. “He said he was not injured but I could detect in his voice that something was wrong,” he tells us.

“This is a horrible situation, but the world has been silent. This is the 21st century and peaceful civilians are being bombed, it is inhumane! “He says.

“We depend on ourselves”

NagornoKarabaj is not recognized by anyone as an independent state, not even for Armenia. The informal republic has a representative in Yerevan but does not have an embassy.

Representative Sergey Gazarian indicates that the ratio of Armenians and Azeris at the front is 13 to 1, in favor of Azerbaijan. However, he claims that after a week of fighting, Azerbaijan’s advances are not significant.

When asked if Stepanakert expects to receive assistance from Russia, including the military, smiles wearily.

“We can’t wait. For what and for how long? We can only depend on ourselves. If a confrontation is unavoidable, you have to strike first. Baku has been preparing for this war for months. Armenia has no reason to start it. “

The fighting has been going on for over a week now. For the first time in 30 years there are signs that Azerbaijan is being supported by Turkey, a strong regional presence with which Azerbaijan shares ethnic and linguistic ties.

Other countries and international organizations – Russia, France, the United States, the European Union, the UN, NATO and the OSCE – are demanding a cessation of hostilities and the restart of peace negotiations.

But this time, both Turkey and Azerbaijan claim that negotiations will only be restarted when Armenia abandons its “occupation of Nagorno Karabakh” how they interpret it and that the forces of the informal republic and Armenia leave the territory that belongs to Azerbaijan under international law.