The voices of civilians amid the confrontation between Armenia and Azerbaijan

The formation of the new geographical limits between these countries, after the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020, allowed the Azerbaijani Armed Forces to project offensives from recently occupied territories. On this occasion, the offensive crossed the borders of Armenia; a fact that the Armenian side qualifies as an invasion and violation of its territorial sovereignty.

As a member state of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Armenia appealed for assistance. Based on the provisions of this collective legitimate defense agreement with Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, if one of the members is attacked by any State, the rest must provide assistance, including military assistance. In response, the organization sent an observation mission to monitor the scenario on the line of contact.

Since the reactivation of hostilities, different countries and international bodies expressed their concern about the atmosphere of tension in the South Caucasus and condemned the provocative actions of Azerbaijan.

In this context, during her recent visit to Armenia, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, declared that the attacks by Azerbaijani troops on Armenian territory were illegal and made US collaboration available, as co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group -the mediator body of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict- to provide a diplomatic solution to this conflict.

For its part, Azerbaijan rejected Pelosi’s statements, calling them “Armenian propaganda.”

On September 21, the day on which the independence of Armenia from the USSR (1991) is commemorated, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, accused the Armenian side of having started the provocations and stated: “Nothing and no one will be able to stop us. No call, no statement or initiative will stop us.”

After three days of intense fighting, a ceasefire became effective. However, tension remains in Armenian society.

Different social sectors maintain the hypothesis around the gestation of a new large-scale attack and perceive Azerbaijan’s silence with mistrust.

In these days of truce, the Azerbaijani side handed over to Armenia 95 corpses of the 207 dead soldiers registered so far. Although their identities are not yet public, the names of four military women who died in battle have been recognized, one of whom was abused and mutilated by Azerbaijani soldiers.

Constant attacks on the civilian population

The artillery attacks crossed the Armenian military posts and hit population settlements such as Jermuk, Sotk, Vardenis and Goris. Countless civilian establishments were damaged; as a consequence, one citizen died and four were injured.

The Sotk people are located in the Gegharkunik province of eastern Armenia. Azerbaijani military posts are installed on the nearest mountain range.

I’ve already been expelled once, I don’t understand why the same thing has to happen

In this village lives Greta, an elderly woman who was born in Soviet Azerbaijan. In the early 1990s, she fled the Baku pogrom, a violent persecution of Armenians residing in that city. Since then, she settled in Sotk and today she lives together with her son and her daughter-in-law.

On the night of September 12, a Grad missile hit Greta’s house, almost completely destroying it. The woman recounts the moment of the explosion: “I thought the world was ending. I’ve already been expelled once, I don’t understand why the same thing has to happen”. She closes her eyes trying to find the answer inside her.

Two kilometers from Greta’s house, a house barely supports its walls. The bombardment caused a fire that completely demolished its roof and interior. Two days after the incident, the walls still emanate heat. There are pieces of roof, crockery and bottles scattered on the floor.

Hakob, a resident of Sotk, shouldered the responsibility of notifying the owner of the house that the house had been damaged by an explosion.

“Your house doesn’t exist anymore, I told him, and I thanked God that no family member was there at the time,” Hakob details.

For several days he has been wearing camouflaged clothing and walks the dirt streets of the town ready to assist the residents who need it. He points out that most of the inhabitants spend the night in their vehicles in Vardenis, a city located a few kilometers away, and return to Sotk during the day. Lastly, he states that he will remain in his village even though he is one of the targets of the Azerbaijani militias.

A few meters away, a woman walks in and out of her home at a hurried pace, loading her belongings into a car. Ruzzana is on the verge of tears, determined to leave. As soon as the attacks broke out, she fled the town and two days later, when she returned, her house was ransacked. She is confused and does not know what has happened.

Ruzzana says that that night he saw a flash of lights in the sky. “I didn’t get to pick up anything, not even my documents. I can no longer stay here. How could I live in this state?”, she questions looking at the mess around her.

Jermuk is one of the most important tourist cities in Armenia, renowned for its hot springs and sanitary residences. This urban community, located 170 km from Yerevan, was another focus of Azerbaijan’s attack.

Although it is a short distance from the border with the neighboring country, many of its inhabitants did not imagine that a large-scale attack would shake them.

In this area of ​​the eastern fringe of Armenia, forests with dense vegetation predominate, which, as a result of the artillery, were set on fire. About 100 hectares of burned fields are recorded.

According to the Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations, it was not possible to carry out the corresponding actions to extinguish the fires, since a large part of the fields are under observation by Azerbaijani troops.

I’ve seen how missiles and drones flew over the city

Armen is the director of the Jermuk Cable Car Complex, a site visited by countless tourists from different countries every year. He relates that that space received the first missile aimed at the city.

“I had left a few minutes before the bombing and an employee had stayed here, who fortunately was able to save his life,” he says.

In Armen’s words, Azerbaijan considers the mountain to which the cable car leads to be a strategic point and that is the reason why this civilian establishment was attacked.

“I myself have seen how the missiles and drones flew over the city,” he concludes.

As of September 13, access to Jermuk is prohibited for civilians; however, residents can enter by presenting documents that certify a domicile in the city.

Uncertainty prevails in the inhabitants of the Armenian border towns. Some areas were completely evacuated; in other places there remain men willing to resist, while the women and children have taken refuge in safer areas of Armenia.

Despite the relatively stable situation on the line of contact for a week, the villagers do not rule out the possibility of further attacks from Azerbaijan.