![](https://static.globalissues.org/ips/2023/11/nagornokarabakh1.jpg)
TEGH, Armenia, Nov 8 (IPS) – From the balcony of the house where she has lived for the past few weeks, 32-Year-old Margarita Ghushunts says she often looks in the direction of her home in Nagorno Karabakh.
‘Every time I look like this, I think of the hellish journey we made to escape from home. It feels like you’re losing it over and over again,” she told IPS.
Nagorno-Karabakh, also called “Artsakh” by its former Armenian residents, was a self-proclaimed republic within Soviet Azerbaijan that had sought international recognition and independence since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-1994) ended with an Armenian victory. Azerbaijan would unleash its armed forces in 2020 and take back many of the territories lost years before.
But the complaints were still not resolved.
On September 19, Azerbaijan launched a massive attack on Nagorno Karabakh. The entire population – more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians – fled the region to Armenia within a few days.
Panicked by the Azerbaijani attack, the civilian population rushed to evacuate. The only road connecting Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia – closed by a nine-month blockade imposed by Azerbaijan – had just reopened but could be closed again at any time.
After a 28-hour, exhausting drive to the Armenian border from Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, Margarita, her husband Harutyun and their three minor children arrived at her father’s house in the village of Tegh, in southern Armenia.
The village is located directly on the border with Azerbaijan. Margarita can even see the Azerbaijani military positions and their flags flying from the neighboring mountain peaks.
“We can also hear the periodic gunshots, so my children cannot sleep peacefully. Even when they hear the sound of thunder, they come to me and ask, “Mommy, are they shooting at us again?”
![Refugees in Kornidzor, the first city on the Armenian side of the border, on September 25. Many arrived empty-handed after fleeing on foot through the forest and under shelling. Credit: Gaiane Yenokian/IPS](https://static.globalissues.org/ips/2023/11/nagornokarabakh2.jpg)
Killed and tortured
On September 28, the last leader of Nagorno Karabakh, Samvel Shajramanian, issued a decree dissolving the self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno Karabakh as of January 1, 2024.
Today, the population of the evacuated enclave is spread throughout the regions of Armenia. Some of them stay in government-provided accommodations, while others rent houses or live in free accommodations provided by caring individuals.
In several public speeches and international meetings, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly emphasized that the rights of Armenians living in Nagorno Karabakh would be guaranteed “with Azerbaijan’s national legislation and international obligations.”
But there is little trust among Armenians. Less than 40 remain in the besieged enclave. They are now receiving humanitarian aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
On October 19, Armenian human rights defender Anahit Manasyan reported that the bodies of victims in Nagorno-Karabakh during the Azerbaijani attack from September 19 to 21 showed signs of torture and mutilation.
It corresponds to data released by the Armenian Investigative Committee on October 31, which shows that 14 people were tortured by the Azerbaijani army and 64 people were killed on the road from Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia.
In an interview with IPS in Yerevan, southern Armenia, international law and human rights expert Siranush Sahakyan notes that previously recorded cases of brutal killings among the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh demonstrate the uselessness of Aliyev’s words.
“After the 2020 war, up to 70 civilians decided to stay in their settlements in Hadrut, Shushi and other regions that came under Azerbaijani control. All these civilians were captured, taken to Baku, tortured and murdered or killed in their own homes. Their bodies were desecrated,” Siranush Sahakyan recalls.
One too called against Azerbaijan that “the rights and security of the Karabakh Armenians must be guaranteed.” Besides just calling, says Siranush Sahakyan, the UN must also create the conditions for this.
“The first condition is to eliminate hatred against Armenians. An international, fully mandated mechanism should also be deployed in Azerbaijan to protect Armenians in case they face security challenges. Without a substantial change in the situation, no one will return,” the lawyer emphasizes.
![Romela Avanesyan prepares a traditional dish from Nagorno-Karabakh. As winter approaches, these displaced people are dependent on both government and international assistance. Credit: Gaiane Yenokian/IPS](https://static.globalissues.org/ips/2023/11/nagornokarabakh4.jpg)
Fear of new attacks
Margarita Ghushunts’ daughter, Rozi, was born during the blockade of Nagorno Karabakh, during which they were deprived of gas, electricity, food, medicine and fuel, and the healthcare system was virtually non-functional.
But it was not the harsh living conditions that forced Margarita to leave Stepanakert
“We were able to endure all the atrocities of the blockade to protect our right to self-determination, but when the Artsakh government was forced to surrender weapons to save the civilian population, we could no longer stay there,” the displaced woman explains.
Life in Artsakh without a defense army, she claims, “is simply tantamount to death for the population.”
Nowadays, Ghushunts often ask their neighbors if they want to stay in the village. However, her answer is disturbing to everyone. The displaced woman fears that Azerbaijani forces “could launch an attack on Armenia at any time.”
It can happen. According to the Armenian MFA, Azerbaijan has occupied 150 square kilometers of the internationally recognized territories of the Republic of Armenia after the 2020 war.
![Displaced children from Nagorno Karabakh play in the only park in the city of Kalavan. According to the Armenian government, about 30,000 of the more than 100,000 refugees are minors. Credit: Gaiane Yenokian/IPS](https://static.globalissues.org/ips/2023/11/nagornokarabakh3.jpg)
On November 1, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention issued a “Red Flag Alert” for the Republic of Azerbaijan in the Republic of Armenia, due to the alarming potential for an invasion of Armenia by Azerbaijan in the coming days and weeks.
Siranush Sahakyan, the international law expert interviewed by IPS, claims that the Armenian parliament’s ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on October 3 could open the door to an international investigation to Azerbaijan’s crimes against Armenia.
“Azerbaijan’s non-ratification of the Rome Statute creates obstacles to investigating their crimes in Artsakh, but it will come under jurisdiction from May 2021 for the crimes committed in the internationally recognized territory of Armenia. This could be one of the ways to protect Armenia from future international crimes,” Sahakyan said.
The Avanesyans also left Nagorno Karabakh to settle in Vazashen, another border village in southern Armenia. But they soon decided to move again.
“Our neighbor pointed out the Azerbaijani positions just in front of the village. He said they could not graze the cattle because the Azerbaijanis were stealing them. The children got scared, so we had to find another shelter,” said Lusine Avanesyan, a 35-year-old mother of five, from the village of Kalavan.
They moved there again after the local boarding house offered its rooms to the family so they could stay as long as they wanted.
Romela Avanesyan, Lusine Avanesyan’s mother-in-law, as soon as they arrived, began exploring the resources available in Kalavan to start a farm.
The displaced 61-year-old remembers the pomegranate garden she planted many years ago but had to leave behind. As they rushed to evacuate Karabakh, she held on to what was most precious to her: the seeds of plants and vegetables from her garden.
“I encouraged my grandchildren to pick only the cracked pomegranates and let the beautiful ones ripen,” says Avansesyan. Today, she adds, “those pomegranates are lost, and so is our entire homeland.”
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service