When Saribek Gevorkyan heard reports that Food City, a vast business-owned food distribution center in Azerbaijan, had suddenly blocked Armenian farmers and rejected 50 trucks of fresh apricots, he took action. She offered free space in her own shopping center to farmers, helping to organize a fruit rescue mission that its organizers have called “Operation Apricot.”
“We told our friends that no one in the Russian Federation can close the doors to Armenians,” said Gevorkyan, the owner of the Shelkovy Put (“Silk Way”) shopping center. “The Russian Federation is open for everyone to come here, earn money and sell products.”
This month’s military clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which left 17 dead, including a prominent Azeri general, were the worst in four years. Their aftershocks have spread across the world, sparking violent skirmishes between diaspora communities in the United States and Europe and a small-scale economic war in Moscow.
The violence seems to be getting worse. In Moscow, Russian media reported that at least 25 people were arrested in a massive fight on Thursday night. The video footage appeared to show a group of men attacking car drivers with Armenian license plates. An Armenian man was reportedly stabbed during the attacks.
The video also showed men with sticks robbing an Azerbaijani restaurant in Moscow, and an Azerbaijani fruit vendor was also reportedly attacked. Members of both diaspora communities, as well as the Armenian embassy, have called for restraint.
There have been some moments of hope. To prevent spoiling freshly picked apricots, organizers of the Moscow Armenian diaspora sent an online alert on behalf of several shopping malls that had given farmers free space to sell their stocks.
The online messages drew thousands of people, launching an impromptu celebration of apricot, an Armenian staple. In a mall, people danced a traditional kochari while shoppers hauled boxes of fresh fruit.
“It became a pretty beautiful city festival,” said David Tonoyan, who helped organize the campaign. He said many of the apricots went to charities, hospices, and nursing homes. “It had the effect of bringing us closer into the diaspora.”
Asked by the Observer If Food City had rejected Armenian sellers, God Nisanov, the president of its parent company, Kievskaya Ploshchad, wrote that “complying with Russian law is an unconditional priority”, and that the company has “continuously demonstrated its concern for the interests of consumers, partners and tenants regardless of their nationality or religious beliefs. “
While the “Apricot War” is over, there are new reports of Azeri-led businesses banning Armenian products. On Thursday, the Armenian ambassador to Moscow told the RBC news site that Armenian canned food, mineral water and cognac had disappeared from a major Moscow supermarket chain owned by an Azeri businessman.
The two countries have often fought, particularly in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, but it is rare to see the conflict spill over into trade in Moscow, where both countries have large diaspora communities.
“Even in 2016 during the four-day war with Azerbaijan … there was no such atmosphere in Moscow. This economic war: there has never been anything like it before, “said Tonoyan, director of the Moscow Armenian Museum and Culture of Nations.
Experts have warned of a high risk of renewing clashes along the border between the two countries. Richard Giragosian, founding director of the study center of the Center for Regional Studies in Yerevan, said it could be a “hot summer”.
“Relying on political will and the situation on the battlefield for regional stability is dangerous,” he said. “There are no external security guarantees … this is a rare ceasefire that only the parties to the conflict maintain without any external actors.”
In a new report, the International Crisis Group warns that the clashes “should serve as a warning and a call to action.”
Tonoyan said he wanted to do more to protect Armenian farmers and other merchants in Russia by helping to organize dedicated outlets.
“We ask all Muscovites to come and help the Armenian farmers, try some tasty apricots, participate in this flashmob and take pictures,” he said. “But we all understand that this is not a permanent solution. So we’re thinking about what’s next. “
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