An Unfinished War

Violence against the Armenian population in Azerbaijan SSR in the late 1980’s, the fight for Nagorno Karabakh’s independence and reunion with Armenia SSR lead to large-scale war by the early 1990’s. Historically Armenian land of Nagorno-Karabakh was liberated and the cease-fire agreement was signed in 1994. But, de jure war was never over. During the last years the consequences of unfinished war and ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan were especially evident throughout the entire Nagorno Karabakh – Azerbaijan line of contact and even along the Armenian-Azerbaijan border. Here, for the last years, the gunshots almost never cease, formulating new rules for living. For over 20 years, villagers have been living like “hostages”, trapped between peace and war. The conflict broke out into a full scale war lasting 4 days in 2016, and in into a 44-day war in fall 2020. In 2023 due to Azerbaijan ethnic cleansing the population of Nagorno-Karabakh was forcibly displaced from their historical land. First time in history, Nagorno-Karabakh was completely depopulated.