The Armenian air force never flew a combat mission during the war, a source of significant internal controversy and suspicion. Armenia also continued using outdated Soviet-era doctrine, but without the support structure from Russia which that doctrine assumed. Azerbaijan not only fielded vastly superior weapons but had tactical and strategic guidance from the modernized Turkish military. Turkish military officers operated Azerbaijan’s newly acquired drones and used them to slice through Armenian defences.
Azerbaijan’s crucial acquisition: Turkey’s Bayraktar T-2, a long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicle, here seen armed with guided missiles, gets its targeting precision from Canadian L3Harris WESCAM technology (sensor package visible on belly of aircraft). It proved decisive in Armenia’s defeat.
Unbeknownst to nearly all Canadians, these drone strikes were made possible by Canadian sensor technology. Azerbaijan’s Bayraktar’s were using a thermal imaging system made by L3Harris WESCAM, a Canadian manufacturer of stabilized imaging systems (and a subsidiary of global defence contractor L3Harris Industries, Inc.). The use of this technology in Nagorno-Karabakh was supposedly prohibited under the Canadian export agreement. After a drawn-out “investigation,” Canada cancelled permits for high-tech arms exports to Turkey. But these had already been banned until six months prior to the war, when the Justin Trudeau government mysteriously approved the permits.
As a NATO member, Turkey’s direct involvement in the war put Canada in an awkward position. The Trudeau government had declared its neutrality. But the WESCAM exports suggest otherwise. “When Turkey attacked Armenia, there was no mandate for any NATO country to come to the aid of Armenia,” says Djelalian. “I believe this is what the Kremlin wanted to prove. That is why [Russia] let it happen. NATO lost the moral high ground, and nobody cared.” In effect, Djelalian asserts, Canada was siding with the aggressors.
Valued customer: Total Canadian military exports to Turkey. (Source: “Killer Optics Exports of Wescam Sensors to Turkey – A Litmus Test of Canada’s Compliance with the Arms Trade Treaty”/Ploughshares Special Report)
Serving in the CAF or any other military entails so-called “unlimited liability” – risking one’s life for the mission. Djelalian wasn’t willing to risk his for a CAF mission that, he profoundly believed, was antithetical to Armenia’s survival. “This is not the first time Canada has sided with genocidal regimes, in lieu of democratic free states,” he charges. “When Canada goes overseas, it cooperates with its allies. So, who are Canada’s allies in Asia Minor? Turkey and Azerbaijan.” These countries pose an existential threat to Armenia. While Russia has guaranteed Armenia’s defence on its western border with Turkey, not so regarding Azerbaijan, which has shown an appetite for territorial expansion.
Since the mid-90s Armenia did forge formal ties with NATO, joining several working groups and supplying peacekeepers to NATO’s never-ending stabilization mission in Kosovo. Yet when the chips were down, Armenia received nothing for its efforts. “The primary purpose of NATO is to deter Russian influence. The second purpose is to strengthen military cooperation of its member states,” Djelalian notes. “There is nothing in there about human rights, self-determination of non-NATO sovereign states. The Erdogan and Aliyev regimes [of Turkey and Azerbaijan] have a green light to freely target Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Arameans, Yezidis…”
Bitter tears of war: The 2020 conflict delivered death of civilians as well as combatants plus colossal destruction of housing in the regions of Ganja (bottom left) and the Republic of Artsakh (bottom right). (Sources of photos: (top left) Courtesy of Armenian Defense Ministry; (bottom left) Javid Nabizade, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 International)
Djelalian became convinced he had to do something to aid Armenia. But given Canada’s de facto foreign policy plus the constraints he was under, what could this be? “I believe that someone who releases from the CAF to work for the Red Cross, or the UN is doing nothing more than a career change,” Djelalian asserts. “The career change is sometimes sponsored and facilitated by host organizations.” His dilemma, he explains, is that “In my case, I would have not found a venue of cooperative agreements to transfer from the CAF to work in Armenia.”
So, he felt the honourable as well as legally correct approach was to quit the CAF and go to Armenia as a private citizen. “I can’t comment on what the Armenian military does or adopts,” he says. “Volunteering with NGOs is my way of contributing. Everybody has to do something. Teaching how to use a compass and leading a discussion on comparative doctrine is my way of contributing.” Carefully balancing his involvement in this way, he feels, recognizes his ongoing legal and moral obligations to Canada, the country where he was born and where his family lives in safety, and to his former employer.
Armenia remembers: Pictured, (left) memorial to fallen Metsn Tigran militia members in Yerevan, (right) new burials in Yerablur Military Memorial Cemetery, Yerevan. (Source of photos: Fin DePencier)
On a foggy Sunday somewhere near Armenia’s pleasant and peaceful capital of Yerevan, Djelalian is drilling half his trainees on using a map and compass while the other half are around the corner at the shooting range. He’s teaching them how to generate a range card, which outlines what sectors of fire a soldier is responsible for in a defensive posture. Many of these men fought in the 2020 war and know another could erupt at any moment.
Armenia’s capital of Yerevan, peaceful and safe – for now.
What’s left of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia is a small, wedge-shaped exclave centred on the city of Stepanakert and surrounded by the Azerbaijani military. Many suspect Armenia is fated to lose the rest. Despite its Armenian population, most of the world already recognizes it as part of Azerbaijan. The exclave doesn’t even show up on google maps and Azerbaijan has pressured google to remove its Armenian names (this short video shows the shifting boundaries in 2020). Armenia’s meagre and battered forces couldn’t withstand another onslaught. Instead, a Russian peacekeeping presence is the only thing preventing Azerbaijan from capturing the entire territory.
Russia’s peacekeeping mission hasn’t been entirely successful. Skirmishes in the Armenian provinces of Syunik and Gegharkunik are frequent, and last November escalated into a full-scale battle before Russia forced another ceasefire. Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev frequently threatens not only to retake Nagorno-Karabakh but to march his army right into Yerevan. Despite being Armenia’s ostensible ally through the post-Soviet Collective Security Treaty Organization, Russia has declined to provide direct military support for Armenia. With a weak military and no reliable allies, Armenians know they not only need to apply every resource at their disposal – they need all the help they can get, from wherever it might come.
Fin DePencier is a Canadian journalist and photographer who is based in Armenia and covers conflicts around the world.
Source of main image: Shutterstock.