REFERENCES – Since December 12, Azerbaijani “activists” have been blocking the only road connecting Artsakh to the rest of the world. When supplies run low, the Armenians living in the enclave feel abandoned by everyone.
“Thank you, thank you for taking the time to listen to us over the Christmas weekend!”. At the end of the line, Shant’s voice trembles with emotion. The 30-year-old lives in Marduni, a village 45 minutes from Stepanakert, the capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The young Armenian is concerned. For 15 days, the Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan has been isolated from the world by a hundred Azerbaijani “eco-activists” – as they portray themselves – who are blocking the Lachin Corridor.
Since December 12, no car or truck has been running on this vital axis, along which almost 90% of the territory’s deliveries pass normally. “There are no more fruits or vegetables. Fresh produce is gone, says Shant. Yesterday I was in a supermarket: there were 8 onions left and some garlic, that’s all. The pasta is almost ready.
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The philanthropist, who works for a local NGO, had to go to Yerevan to buy Christmas presents for nearly 4,000 children aged 5 to 10: “Every year we raise funds to comfort these children who have been hit by the bombs and the war have seen. You must be smiling so badly. Not only can I not go down the corridor, my car won’t even start because I’m out of gas.”
Finding diapers for her four-month-old baby was an adventure. “The first pharmacy didn’t have one, and neither did the second. On the third, there was one package left. So the family man took the bare essentials, enough for one week, and left the rest for the next: “We’ll hold out here like this”.
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What about an airlift? The brand new airport in Stepanakert is out of order as Azerbaijan has threatened to shoot down all planes taking off or landing. As a result, none of the 400 tons of food shipped daily has reached Artsakh for 15 days. Even the cash is running out. Authorities have encouraged residents to make their payments through bank transactions.
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“It’s hard being separated from my parents”
On Sunday, December 25, several thousand protesters gathered in Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorny Kabarakh, to demand the road’s restoration. “The shortage is not just food. Families were also separated, points out Figaro Hovhannès Gervorgyan, representative of the Republic of Artsakh in France. About 1100 people in Armenia, that is 170 children, remained on the streets.” In Marduni, Shant supports two children aged 14 and 11 who are alone because their parents were stranded in Armenia while going to attend an uncle’s funeral. A network of solidarity has developed in the village. “We sent some money to the parents to pay for the hotel and some clothes,” explains Shant. The neighbors take care of the farm and the chickens until they return.
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12-year-old Maral went to Yerevan with her mother for an eye operation. The squinted girl celebrated her ‘brand new’ eyes, but is now living with a friend while waiting to find her parents across the border. “It’s very hard to be apart from them,” she tells Le Figaro in her slender voice.
His mother, a nurse, was able to cross the corridor in Extremis to treat her patients after long discussions at the checkpoint. She herself spoke to Armenian soldiers pleading with Russian peacekeepers, who have been responsible for securing the Lachin corridor since the 2020 ceasefire, and was eventually passed over for the need for the job, but without his daughter. “I would prefer her to stay in Armenia,” confides the mother from her village near Stepanakert. We’re missing everything here. Baku can turn off the heating at any time. And then the road leading to the corridor will not be guarded by Russian soldiers. You never know what can happen.” Her husband nods next to the phone.
Maral, 12, and his companion Armine, who is sheltering him during the blockade, pose in front of the UN mission in Yerevan. Personal collection Maral submitted a drawing to the UN in Yerevan to denounce the blockade. Personal collection.
A baby displaced by the Red Cross
A few days before Christmas, which the Armenian Catholic Church celebrates on January 6, the isolation is even more cruel. Stuck in Stepanakert, Biayna Sukhudyan will not only see her daughter, who is studying in Austria, for the holidays. “I don’t get a chance to see her. My youngest daughter had a successful job interview and I can’t congratulate her,” she says, fighting back tears.
Biayna is the head of pediatric neurology in Yerevan and was in the hospital in Stepanakert. She is concerned about the lack of antibiotics and painkillers. “I’m very worried about childcare,” she breathes. Normally, about eight babies are transferred to Yerevan for further care every month. Only one could be transferred to a Red Cross vehicle on December 24. “This baby was seriously ill with an infection and had a high fever. Every minute counted, but we had to keep him for another week during negotiations. We didn’t have the resources or the specialists to take care of it here,” she says.
One patient who was prevented from being transferred to the Yerevan hospital has already died. “Today six seriously ill patients are waiting to be transferred. Their fate could be the same,” stresses Hovhannès Gevorgyan.
“It lasts at least the whole winter”
In the parish of the village of Marduni, Father Hovhan is organizing prayer vigils to ask for an end to this situation of fear. Each time the church is full with 500 seats. “We don’t see help anywhere in the world. Apart from France. She’s the only one watching us and worried about us. We really want to thank the French,” says the priest. On December 23, Emmanuel Macron urged his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliev to allow “free movement” between the Nagorno-Karabakh region and Armenia. “But words are not enough,” emphasizes Father Hovhan. God is the only one who can still help us. We have no outside hope other than our prayers.”
The Armenian authorities, like the residents, know that the situation may persist unless international pressure is applied. The Azerbaijani authorities, arrested through the mediation of the Russians, remained deaf. The “activists” have announced their desire to extend the blockade. “They simply let it be known that they agreed to the reopening on condition that they control all the passages,” Minister of State and Head of Artsakh Civil Defense Ruben Vardanyan told Figaro. We’ve got enough for at least the whole winter, that’s for sure. We are preparing for that.”
“Azerbaijan wants to overthrow us, they want this country without its people. They want us to die of hunger and cold. I think so,” says Armine, an Armenian humanist. Azerbaijan shut down the pipeline to Nagorno-Karabakh for almost three days in mid-December with temperatures around freezing. “If they wanted to consider us part of their territory, how would they treat their own citizens? It is nonsense”. Before he hangs up, Shant, Marduni’s father, throws us one last word: “I want to say thank you again. Anyone from the outside to spend a few minutes chatting and worrying about us is very touching. Thank you very much”.