(Noyakert) Before fleeing to Armenia, faced with the advance of Azerbaijani troops, Souren Martirossian had time to take a last look at his orchard in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
“The image of our beautiful garden, which I saw for the last time, is etched in my memory: pomegranates and persimmons shone on the trees, under a bright sun,” says this 65-year-old man.
His family, eight people in total, were part of the flood of some 100,000 inhabitants who left this mountainous territory, reconquered in September by Baku thanks to a lightning offensive against Armenian separatists.
PHOTO KAREN MINASYAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Souren Martirossian
This exodus of almost the entire Armenian population from the enclave, at the center of a territorial conflict between Baku and Yerevan for decades, has triggered a migration crisis in Armenia.
On September 19, the first day of the Azerbaijani offensive, “we heard machine gun fire and explosions caused by artillery near our house,” recalls Arevik, Souren’s daughter-in-law.
“At first we thought it was just another skirmish with the Turks,” she explains, referring to the Azerbaijanis, who speak Azeri, a Turkic language.
“But then our panicked village chief came and said we had to run away, because the Turks were already in the outskirts of our village. »
The Martirossian family now lives in a decrepit house in Noyakert, about fifty kilometers from the Armenian capital Yerevan, rented thanks to government aid.
Dissolution
A single day of fighting was enough to convince the Armenian separatists, who had controlled the territory for around thirty years, to surrender.
A major victory for Baku, which thus brought back under its fold this enclave which had until then escaped it.
PHOTO KAREN MINASYAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Souren Martirossian and his family.
For Souren Martirossian, the culprits are obvious: Armenia and Russian peacekeeping troops.
The latter were deployed by Moscow, Armenia’s ally, as part of the ceasefire agreement which ended previous hostilities in the area in 2020.
“Our army fought courageously to protect our homeland, it was Russia and the Armenian government who were defeated in Karabakh,” assures Souren Martirossian.
The separatists agreed to dissolve their self-proclaimed republic at the end of the year, effectively putting an end to the long territorial dispute between Baku and Yerevan.
But their leader, Samvel Chakhramanian, finally retracted last week, to everyone’s surprise.
The announcement may be spectacular, but it will have no concrete effect, because the separatists have been driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh, now under firm Azerbaijani control. And Armenia is unlikely to be willing to support the functioning of a separatist institution on its own territory.
But Samvel Chakhramanian’s statements struck a chord with many refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, who continue to dream of the independence of their enclave, despite the defeat.
“The children have nightmares all the time, crying at night and wondering when we will come home,” says Arevik.
But, for her, a return is only possible if the “safety” of her children is guaranteed and she is certain of being able to live “completely separated” from the Azerbaijanis.
“Murdered my child”
Armenia and Azerbaijan recently assured that they wanted to normalize their historically execrable relations by signing a peace agreement.
This process, seen as good news by the partners of these Caucasian countries, does not excite the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.
A tenacious hatred, fueled by the two wars between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave, still poisons relations between the two peoples.
“I don’t believe in peace” with the Azerbaijanis, says Boris Doloukhanian, a 65-year-old refugee, whose son was killed during the 2020 conflict.
PHOTO KAREN MINASYAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Susanna and Boris Dolukhanian.
“How could we live alongside Turks who murdered my child? “, he explains. “We must become powerful enough to take back our land by force. »
Boris Doloukhanian says his family was “prosperous” when they lived in Nagorno-Karabakh, where they had several houses, land and even an exotic bird farm.
“We left our paradise behind us,” he regrets.
The three-room apartment near Yerevan where they found refuge is now beyond their means, and the family will have to pack their bags once again.
Boris Doloukhanian’s granddaughter, Rouzanna, 10, hopes that “Santa Claus will perform a miracle so that we can come home.”