Nagorno-Karabakh: Eyewitness reports attacks by Azerbaijan

Mr. Vanjan, your city has been under Azerbaijani fire since yesterday. Now the guns have been silent again for a few hours. How is the situation?
The artillery shelling ended around 3 p.m. It had lasted since midday yesterday and all night long. I still have this noise in my ears.

How do people react?
A strange calm has returned. The children even came outside from the basement. People are trying to come to themselves.

What is the humanitarian situation?
The situation was already very bad before this one-day war. We could only buy bread, which is why we stood in queues. Since the shelling began, all shops have been closed. Things have gotten even worse. Thousands of people have gathered at Stepanakert airport, where the Russian peacekeepers are based. Many villages were evacuated because the Azerbaijanis occupied them. All these people and residents of Stepanakert are there now. I just spoke on the phone to relatives of mine who are there. They say that there is nothing there either: no food, no drinks. But the Red Cross is trying to help.

How do you stay connected to the outside world?
The cell phone connection is very bad. I’m surprised we can even talk now. There are also problems with the internet. There has been almost no electricity since yesterday, but that was already a problem. We haven’t had gas for a long time. Even the city government doesn’t have gasoline anymore. In the summer there was a lot of fruit and vegetables in the villages, but they couldn’t bring them into the city without gasoline. Some brought it here in horse-drawn carriages.

Are there any signals from Russia or Azerbaijan that an escape corridor for civilians to Armenia will be opened as announced?
Not yet. It has just become known that negotiations will take place with the Azerbaijanis. Now the moment has come when the most important questions will be clarified: What status will Nagorno-Karabakh get? The official statement said that all weapons should be brought to Armenia. What will happen next is difficult to say.

How do the residents of Stepanakert perceive this decision – as a surrender?
Of course we’re worried about that. But right now we are primarily trying to come to ourselves. I didn’t even have time to think about it. Imagine this: for 24 hours all I heard was artillery fire.

Were there people who tried to flee towards Armenia?
I see a lot of people with heavy bags and suitcases on the street. Everyone has been packing up and waiting for the last 24 hours. They would rather trust in their own forces than in the Red Cross, the government or the Russian peacekeepers. I don’t know what people will do now. But even if they wanted to flee now: the Azerbaijanis would not let them cross from here to Armenian territory so easily.

Azerbaijan has said in messages to the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh that civilians have nothing to fear. Have they reached you?
I haven’t seen anything like that. But what I saw with my eyes were three or four artillery shells flying directly into the center of Stepanakert. A shop, a playground and a residential building were hit. Since the 2020 war, military positions are very close to Stepanakert. I was able to see the fighting with my own eyes from the direction of the city of Shushi, four kilometers away. You can even hear them firing Kalashnikovs here.

Have you seen military technology on the streets of Stepanakert?
No. There are hardly any cars on the street either. There is practically no gasoline.

How many people are still in Stepanakert now?
Three years ago there were 75,000 people here because many people fled here after the 2020 war. Today there are maybe 50,000 people.

They are now de facto surrounded by the Azerbaijani army. What do you expect from the outside world: from Armenia, from Russia, from the EU?
The most important thing is that the road to Armenia is reopened. This is more important than food and medicine. This is our road of life. This road connects us to Armenia’s capital Yerevan. Since that connection was severed nine months ago, we have turned into a kind of Somalia. Sometimes some humanitarian aid is brought and said: ‘Here, eat this this month, then we’ll see what we can bring next month.’ Everything used to come from Armenia. The free movement of people between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia is also very important.

Could the current crisis mark the beginning of the end of the Armenian presence in Nagorno-Karabakh? Do you expect Azerbaijan to force the Karabakh Armenians to flee?
Everything can happen. Each family will decide for themselves. One will say: The graves of our relatives are here, we can’t leave. Another will say: We are tired, we finally have to go. But: Will there even be an opportunity to leave Nagorno-Karabakh?

Can you imagine living under Azerbaijani control?
I don’t know what the circumstances will be. I am a person who loves freedom. I want there to be no blocked paths ahead of me, including the path to Europe. Why should anyone block my way? If I want to go to Yerevan, I have the right to do so. What happened now is like an earthquake for us. Everyone understands that now there will be a sharp turn. Maybe even in a positive direction?

Were the people of Nagorno-Karabakh aware in recent years that war could break out again?
Of course not. When the Russian peacekeepers came here, people were happy. Some thought that the Russians would stay forever, that everything would be fine now. But after just a year, disillusionment set in and in the end the Lachin corridor to Armenia was closed. People are disappointed that the Russians allowed this to happen.

Armenians are now angry that the Russians didn’t protect Nagorno-Karabakh?
There are still people today who believe that the Russians are the only guarantor of our security. You ask: If the Russians leave, will German, French or American soldiers come to stand between us and the Azerbaijanis? But many are now also saying: Why didn’t the Russians keep their word? There was a protest in the spring where people carried posters with slogans like: “Putin, keep your word.”

Is there any news about atrocities committed by Azerbaijanis?
What has happened so far cannot be compared to the war of 2020. There was heavy fighting, but I assume that most of the deaths were due to artillery fire. The saddest news we expect is the real number of victims. Until now there hasn’t even been time to count the dead. I heard a number, but I don’t want to give it now.

Is it significantly higher than the previously officially stated figures of 32 dead and around 200 injured?
Yes, unfortunately.

How do you see the future?
I hope that this road to Armenia will finally be opened and that people can come to us again. That Nagorno-Karabakh stops being an open-air prison.