Category: 2020

“1815 hectares of forest area have already been burned, but fires continue in various areas, and there is a tendency for rapid growth,” Artak Beglaryan, Karabakh’s Human Rights Defender, said.

A video footage released from Karabakh (Artsakh) on October 31 shows Azerbaijani forces firing white phosphorus munitions over major forests in the region. According to the Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, the use of air-dropped incendiary weapons against military objectives within a concentration of civilians is simply prohibited.

In a statement released on November 4, Armenian environmental rights groups warn that Azerbaijan is making the area uninhabitable for people as well as animals.

“We, the environmentalists of Armenia and Artsakh (Karabakh), are compelled to speak out now to decry and condemn Azerbaijan’s deliberate use of white phosphorus to destroy forest ecosystems and protected areas of Artsakh, near the communities of Shushi, Martakert and Askeran,” the statement says.

Per Reuters, white phosphorus munitions can be used on battlefields to make smoke screens, generate illumination, mark targets or burn bunkers and buildings.

“The destructive effects of phosphorus on people, plants, and animals have caused many international organizations to forbid its use against civilian populations or the natural environment. Phosphorus burns intensely, causing severe injuries to people and animals. It is resistant to traditional methods of extinguishing fires, and its traces can remain in soil for many years, causing further damage to ecosystems affected by the fires.

The peaceful ethnic Armenians of Artsakh have lived in their ancient and beautiful sacred forests for thousands of years. The forests supply fuel, food, clean air and clean water. They serve as habitats for many native species of animals, including the endangered Caucasian Leopard, Europe’s last big cat. It is apparent that if Azerbaijan has decided it cannot capture this territory, it will make it uninhabitable. We can not tolerate such an outcome.

We call upon all citizens of the world who care for the natural environment to speak out against the wanton destruction of Artsakh’s forests by Azerbaijan’s illegal use of white phosphorus weapons,” say the signatories of the statement.

Signatories:
Armenia Tree Project
Former RA Deputy Minister of Environment Vardan Melikyan
Armenian Environmental Network
My Forest Armenia
FPWC (Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets)
Paros Foundation
Green Lane Ngo
Yerevan Botanical Garden
EcoLur Informational NGO
Eco Hub Foundation
EcoTeam NGO
Tapan Eco Club
Ark Armenia NGO
Armenian Progressive Youth NGO
Third Nature NGO
Tree of Life CSO
Araks Center Charitable NGO
Institute of Botany after A. Takhtajyan
Armenian National Agrarian University

✓Azerbaijani subversive groups attempt to take the city of Shushi.

✓Armenian FM says no meeting between Aliyev and Pashinyan is on the agenda.

✓Four Azerbaijani drones are downed in the Armenian region of Gegharkunik.

✓Aliyev lambasts Russian claims that Syrian mercenaries are in Karabakh.

It’s said that one of the first casualties of war is the truth, but war is also a great killer of complexity. There is nothing else to think but to protect our land and to support our valiant soldiers. My normal process of thought tries to see things from as many angles as possible, but that serves no purpose in the blunt and brutal activity we are presently engaged in. As Prime Minister Pashinyan has said, there is only victory or defeat. And defeat is unthinkable.

Why is it unthinkable? It is unthinkable that we are once again going to lose land that our ancestors have lived in for so long, and this is what I find so remarkable about our nation. We were divided long ago into an Eastern and Western culture, but we identify as one people. What is unthinkable is that our country of Armenia would be flanked by the ghost of Western Armenia on the west, and the possibility of a ghost of Eastern Armenia on the east. This is a nightmare.

Our grandparents were exiled from their towns and villages and it is unthinkable that we will allow a present generation to suffer the same fate. Anyone who has been to Artsakh – as I have – will know the strong-spirit and unique personality of our brothers and sisters there. It pains me tremendously to imagine that a generation born far away from the grueling war of the early nineties will now understand that not only are they themselves the children of war, but now their children will also have this dark stain on their souls.

One of the oddest things about visiting Armenia is how everyone refers to the people of Azerbaijan as ‘Turks’ and I used to believe that this was stretching things. The Karabakh War was against a different people, and I used to think that we liberated this land from the jaws of our Azerbaijani enemy. But now I understand that this really is a war against the Turks.

‘Turks’ not as nation or state, but ‘Turks’ as a concept of people who hate us so inexplicably, and have been allowed to literally hate us to death. What a crazy thought! Here we are, 105 years after the catastrophic genocide of our nation and these people are still determined to banish us off the face of the earth. Seriously, what have we done to them? Did we make a big case about what happened to Nakhchivan after the fall of the Soviet Union? We were prepared to give them that land without a fight, even though we had ancestral roots there. Why isn’t there some modicum of generosity with this land we wish to keep? Is it really that important to them?

No, what has become important is their need to hate us, and this is not a complex emotion. It bears little examination and needs only one clear response. I think William Saroyan said it best. ‘Have no shame in being kindly and gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill and have no regret.’ This the ugly and awful truth we have arrived at.

This piece is part of the Voices on Karabakh collection where a select group of scholars, intellectuals, and artists contribute observations on the war in and for Karabakh. It’s an attempt to make sense of this time and this region. 

Met a very nice woman today. Her husband and eldest son are in the war, and she and her two children are in the shelter.

“Sometimes it seems to me that I can’t bear it anymore, but I don’t know where the strength comes. I lost my father after the first war, and now my husband and son are there,” she says.

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen to them. Have you spoken to your son?”

“Yes, he called…”

“What did he say? And husband?”

“Everything is bad… I am so afraid of the consequences of this war… Bad premonition…”

I could not understand, if she talked to them, then what is the problem? They are alive!

The phone rang. She took the phone, was silent. My heart sank. Sits, does not move. A tear slowly slides down her cheek, her eyebrows move, she does not utter a sound…

“What? What happened?” I ask, afraid to hear the answer.

Continues to be silent …

After a while it became clear, he called and said: “I think we are in an ambush. I’m not sure if I can call again… Look after the children, I love you…”

There is still no news from him. We are sitting, waiting for his call…