"Again the war and gathering in the shelter." Report on the situation in Karabakh by Stepanakert journalist
On September 27 at 07.10 in Stepanakert, one could hear alarming sounds familiar from the war of the 90s – a cannonade, an alarm siren. As if out of habit – quick collections: money, jewelry in a scarf and photographs of children, then calls to relatives and friends.
Azerbaijan launched an offensive along the entire perimeter of the Karabakh border. Populated areas, including Stepanakert, are being fired upon with artillery and rockets.
The streets of Stepanakert are empty – martial law has been declared, and again the ominous word – “mob”. This is how Karabakh called the general mobilization during the April 2016 war. Men in barracks and on the front lines, women and children in shelters. The only difference with the war of 1991-94 is that now there is internet in the shelters.
•Op-ed from Yerevan: why military actions have begun in Karabakh now
•Op-ed from Armenia: why the Azerbaijani media publishes ‘sensational’ articles on Karabakh
•Georgian politicians and experts on Karabakh conflict
Unlike those times, children no longer play with shells and cartridges, but rather engage in virtual games. However, their fathers are on the real front line.
Occasionally, one can see men on the streets who are demonstratively gallant, with the top button of their military uniform unbuttoned, or with a stern and anxious look, having taken out the camouflages they have “forever” put aside, which are now barely fastening on their belly.
“We have nowhere to go, this is our land, the graves of my ancestors have rested in our village since 1782. Where are we to go with these roots?” says an elderly woman in one of the hideouts. She stands at the door, as if meaning to show that she is afraid not for herself, but for her grandchildren.
“Half of the world has been seized, but they will never get enough, no, they definitely need our land,” a neighbor echoes her, whose children and grandchildren decided to wait out the escalation in Armenia.
Women, accustomed to gossip, say that it is impossible to believe everything that is written on the Internet – this time the enemy, along with drones and artillery, is also using information “mortars” in an attempt to spread panic.
War has long been a routine for the Karabakh people.
