High in the South Caucasus, the self-proclaimed state of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) is not somewhere which the vast majority of people even know exists. Located within the de-jure territory of Azerbaijan, the mainly Armenian region broke away from Turkic majority Azerbaijan in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse. A peaceful protest movement in the late 1980s gave way to violent crackdowns, reprisal killings and finally a full-scale war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Conflict News reports.
When the dust had settled, in 1994, tens of thousands were dead, and hundreds of thousands were permanently displaced, including almost all Azerbaijanis in NKR, and almost all Armenians in Azerbaijan. NKR, after effectively routing Azerbaijani forces expanded its borders to eventually control approximately a fifth of the internationally-recognized territory of Azerbaijan.
The remnants of this war continue to scar the landscape – abandoned towns, destroyed military equipment, and ruined buildings can easily be seen on even a short drive from the capital Stepanakert. Thankfully, a ceasefire has ensured that in the decades since, these ruins stand as an odd juxtaposition against the now peaceful lives of the regions’ citizens.
But that peace is now in great danger.
On the night of the 2st of April 2016, the town of Talish located in NKR, kilometers from the frontline, came under shelling attack from Azerbaijan. The residents reporting hiding in basements while artillery and rockets rained down around them.
“The residents who had cars were able to evacuate, but the residents who didn’t have cars – they were elderly, they had children […] we were able to get most people to safety, but we had 2 wounded, and 3 people killed,” said Talish village head Vilen Petrosyan.
The village was then temporarily occupied by Azerbaijani forces, before they were once again forced out by an NKR counterattack. The artillery barrages, combined with the subsequent fighting destroyed approximately 50% of the structures in Talish.
This was just the opening act of what was known as the April War – an Azerbaijani attempt to retake parts of Nagorno-Karabakh. Over the course of four days of fighting, this advance was beaten mostly back, at the cost of hundreds of lives across both sides. This conflict also saw the combat debut of the Harop ‘kamikaze’ drone which was used by Azerbaijan against NKR positions, resulting in several casualties.
Read the full article on Conflict News.
