Military trophies and fearful refugees: A glimpse inside Nagorno-Karabakh
Azerbaijan's military has paraded heavy weapons captured in Nagorno-Karabakh, amid warnings thousands of civilians are without shelter after the surrender of Armenian separatists.
By Olga Ivshina, in Shusha, Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan's military has paraded heavy weapons captured in Nagorno-Karabakh, amid warnings thousands of civilians are without shelter after the surrender of Armenian separatists.
In the courtyard of a military base in the Azerbaijani-controlled town of Shusha – Azeri army officers proudly display ‘trophies’ seized from Armenian forces, to a specially invited group of journalists and foreign military attaches.
There’s enough military kit here to fill half a football field, and among the rows of war spoils, the BBC can see a T-72 tank, several BMP-2 armored vehicles, machine guns, rifles, grenade launchers, crates of grenades, mines, and ammunition, stacks of bulletproof vests, and piles of helmets.
The Azerbaijanis say this is just some of the military equipment which Armenian forces have surrendered in the last two days. They say they are "continuing to receive weapons from the separatists" in conjunction with Russian peacekeepers, in compliance with the ceasefire that brought last week’s brief fighting to a halt.
The Russian Ministry of Defence, echoes this, saying that as of Saturday Armenian forces in Karabakh have handed over 800 pieces of firearms and approximately 5,000 units of ammunition.
Stepanakert in the crosshairs
The Azerbaijani soldiers we met in Shusha were all very cheerful and full of smiles. They were clearly pleased with the outcome of Baku's lightning-fast September offensive.
This was in sharp contrast to the Russian peacekeepers, whose post is located at the entrance to Shusha, and who looked grim-faced as we passed by.
It's nearly impossible to find any civilians on the streets of Shusha at the moment—only soldiers, police, and workers involved in the city's reconstruction.
We were taken to see the only house in Shusha that suffered damage during the recent fighting. During that incident we were told that one civilian—an engineer working on the city's restoration—had been killed.
It’s not known how many Azerbaijani soldiers have been killed in the operation to retake Karabakh, but Armenian sources say 200 Karabakh Armenians lost their lives due to shelling from Azerbaijan, including 10 civilians.
In the past few days, there have been no reports of new clashes or casualties from Nagorno-Karabakh. However, at the checkpoints and on the roads in Shusha, it is evident that tensions continue. There are visibly more military personnel and equipment here than the BBC observed on a previous visit in 2022.
On one of the strategic heights of the city, we observed at least six mortars aimed towards Karabakh’s main city, Stepanakert (known to Azerbaijanis as Khankendi) A year ago, there were no artillery pieces in this location.
People under the open sky
As we were being led through the impromptu weapons exhibition, darkness fell over Karabakh.
In Shusha the streetlights came on and the town was brightly lit – a huge contrast with Stepanakert (Khankendi) in the valley below which we could see was plunged into darkness.
Local residents say there is no electricity, water, or reliable mobile communication in the city and severe shortages of food and medicine continue.
On Saturday, the International Red Cross delivered 70 tons of food to the region. Russian peacekeepers also report providing humanitarian assistance to the region's residents, although the exact amount is unknown. Azerbaijani representatives say they are ready to send additional trucks with food, but so far, the Karabakh Armenians have been reluctant to accept even what was sent earlier.
After Azerbaijan established military control over Nagorno-Karabakh, thousands of Karabakh Armenians have fled their homes and taken shelter in a makeshift tent camp near the airfield in Stepanakert (Khankendi). They say they are afraid of reprisals by the advancing Azerbaijani army and are hoping the Russian peacekeepers stationed nearby, will protect them.
Baku says civilians have nothing to fear and that Azerbaijan wants to reintegrate all residents of the region. "If we didn't care about the civilian population, women, and children, we would have simply entered Khankendi," explained one Azerbaijani official involved in negotiations with the Armenian side to the BBC.
"We are prepared to guarantee the safety of both Armenians and Azerbaijanis living in Karabakh. To that end, we have already been demining the territory, and we have set up several tent camps for those who are left without shelter. The camps are located in Kelbajar, Fizuli, and Agdam. We are ready to provide warmth, water, and food to accommodate a thousand people in each of these camps," said Anar Eyvazov, the spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense.
But after three decades of conflict, and a history of atrocitities on both sides, there is a deep mistrust and antipathy between Armenians and Azerbaijanis and it’s clear that few Karabakh Armenians now see a future for themselves in the region.
"I don't know anyone of my peers who wants to stay here in the current conditions. On the other hand, my elderly relatives say they want to die here. They lost their sons in previous Karabakh wars," says journalist Siranush Sargsyan, who is in Stepanakert. "For most people, for my generation, this is already the fourth war," she adds.
Watch Olga Ivshina reporting from Shusha on BBC News channel
US Senator Gary Peters, who led a congressional delegation on a visit to the Armenian side of the border with Azerbaijan on Saturday, told journalists that residents of Nagorno-Karabakh are "very fearful" and called for the creation of an international observer mission.
"I think the world needs to know exactly what's happening here," Peters said. "We've heard statements from the Azerbaijani government that there is nothing to see here and nothing to worry about. But if that is indeed the case, then international observers should have the opportunity to confirm it."
So far though Azerbaijani military forces have not allowed journalists to get close to Stepanakert and are closely monitoring all media movements in the region.
Setting aside Baku's optimistic promises, diplomatic statements, and appeals from the international community, one thing remains clear: the fate of the 120,000 Armenians currently in Nagorno-Karabakh is entirely in the hands of the Azerbaijani side for now.
BBC Russian has deployed teams to cover this story both in Azerbaijan and Armenia. You can read the report from Armenia below.
Read this story in Russian here.
Edited by Jenny Norton.
