Day 36 of #war

Summer 1999, NK

So much happened these past days. We received the news and watched in horror the phosphoric bombs falling from the sky on the majestic mountains and forests of Artsakh. Those mountains were always a safe haven for the population, the peaceful villagers in the region.

I remember Abel from Karin Dag(under the rock), in that small but courageous Armenian village located just under Shushi. I used to volunteer there, renovating the tiny old church in the center of the village with many volunteers of Land and Culture, from around the world. It was 1999, and after hard working days, we used to gather outside the village school where we slept, made a bonfire and sat for long hours together with the villagers listening to their stories of war, loss, victory and resistance. Since there was no internet at that time and almost no phones, that was our only entertainment on those hot summer days.

Abel, a young man born and raised in that village, which we nicknamed Hercules for his strong arms and ability to transport heavy rocks, was silent most of the time. He was just a kid during the war of the 90s, he didn’t participate much to the discussion and with a sad gaze would sit beside us, listening quietly. Then one day, some of us started asking him about his life during that time. After a certain time, he started telling us his story, while holding back his tears…He was a just a child, and together with his siblings living an innocent life in that village. Then when it all started, their homes were bombarded by Azerbaijanis. Among the fire, the smoke and destruction, mothers took their children and ran fast up in the mountains for safety… everyone knew that would be their only safety. Many were saved…the men stayed behind defending their village. Abel’s mom was running up the hill, and when the bombing started targeting the civilians, she asked the kids to lie low and then she covered them with her body to keep them safe…and that is how she died, she was hit by a piece of the shelling and killed on the spot, while the kids stayed alive under her heavy body…heavy memories carried by many kids in those times.

Karin Dag tells many stories of survival and death…in almost each home you visit in that village there is a corner allocated to the lost ones, a father, an uncle, a son, a brother…some kind of a shrine with candles, flowers, photos…keeping the memories alive. More will be added after this war…more will be added everywhere after this war. And life one day will go on, despite our efforts to stop it.

Yesterday, I tried to process the information that jihadists and Syrian mercenaries hired by Turkey to fight for Azerbaijan against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh were paid 2000 $ per month and an additional 100 $ for each beheading.

Yes…you heard it well…beheading. Erdogan and Aliyev are sending terrorists to savagely kill people in the 21st century. Now process that for a minute or two, then ask yourself, why is this happening right now, at this moment?

Then there are people known in their community like the press secretary of the Qarabag football club of Azerbaijan writing on his wall “we need to kill all Armenians, children, women, elderly, without distinction…”

There are also the planned organized Turkish mobs roaming the streets of France 100s of them at once with the grey wolf genocidal sign, looking for Armenians to beat up…in those communities where most survivors settled fleeing the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

I am trying to see possibilities of dialogue and peace among all this hate...I am failing, we are all failing...

Several human rights defenders and advocates for peace around the world and most importantly those who used to be active in our region…seem to not notice these events…never heard of hate crimes, state sponsored Armenophobia…denial of Genocide…never. They never heard about the Sumgait massacres which started the first war, when Armenians were killed under Azerbaijani rule…they never heard of Safarov, the terrorist, the murderer greeted like a hero in his hometown…Or it doesn’t suit them to be vocal right now…many things are at stake right now and Armenian lives are not one of them it seems…Yet some of them are busy sharing one or two tiny reports of Human Rights Watch, retweeting at most, if pressed by time... but only if it mentions both sides and get done with the whole issue…feel good, thinking they did their part…ignoring all the rest. Ignoring the scope of the conflict, ignoring the fact of an obvious larger aggressor, also known as a dictator in his country, who started a war in a middle of global pandemic against a new developing democracy(whose main crime is that there is no oil found on their lands to bribe anyone)…ignoring the constant refilling of sophisticated weapons coming from Israel to Baku…the hired mercenaries from Syria, the genocidal speeches of Erdogan supporting his brother Aliyev…yes, those are just not as important it seems…

Then of course there is Belarus…and the elections in Georgia and many other more important things to talk about in the region than just a tiny population of 150 000 supported by a 3 million fighting for survival against two well-known dictators with more than 90 million population, oil money, caviar for the most refined foreign politicians, or international media, supported by the arm industry of Israel, Turkey and many others combined.

Sure, nothing to say there, except the two reports and maybe the “occupation” discourse…but occupying what? Who? How can the indigenous Armenian population of Artsakh who has been discriminated and oppressed historically on their lands under Azerbaijanis, can be safe under this Azerbaijani rule, bloodthirsty, not only killing soldiers but beheading them, torturing, spreading hate speech on governmental level… who can guarantee their safety? surely not the Europeans or the Americans or any other power right now, they can’t even force Aliyev to a ceasefire, let alone something else… it seems that Armenians can rely only on themselves, their own people...every Armenian child has heard this by his/her grand-parents and tried all his/her life to prove it wrong, just to be met with more disappointment at the end, like these days.

And for all those rejoicing, including so-called peacebuilders from the other side, with each news, true or fake, of a territory taken…let me ask you, is it worth it? All the blood? The killings, was it this way how you imagined it?

Life continues for many of you out there. There was Halloween…soon, Christmas and New year will be here and many more events to plan and live. But history shows us that wars don’t stop at the borders where conflict is happening…

Yes, there are very serious violations happening in Belarus right now…and I am DEEPLY concerned and urging both parties to find a peaceful solution, so more civilians and protesters don’t suffer, get killed or attacked on the streets…yes, urging everyone to stop! It's Ridiculous right? what I am saying? …and yes, you are right! it is extremely ridiculous and unacceptable to say the least.

You can never ask victims to make peace with the aggressors, you cannot ask them to stop defending their lives and rights in the middle of a survivor war when the aggressor is even more ready to kill and annihilate. It is the aggressor that you need to address first, yes that one exactly... the one who decided to launch this large scale war in the middle of a global pandemic. Maybe you forgot about that slight detail...

And of course some things help in the middle of all the chaos I am living right now…private messages from friends, acknowledging what is happening and offering support, diaspora Armenians constantly sending aid, money, medicines, doctors to help, and global activists and intellectuals sending words of solidarity across the oceans to the forgotten tiny population…

“From one world historical people, we in the midst of the American Empire, I raise my voice, one voice, but my voice, in deep solidarity to another world historical people, to a people who have been traumatized for over 2000 years... Solidarity is not abstract, it’s blood-soaked, it is tear-soaked. And we refuse to allow the lies, and the crimes against the Armenian brothers and sisters to have the last word.

Don’t get discouraged,

Don’t let anything dampen your fire…it’s a sacred fire that burns inside of you…

And it burns in such a way that you’ll tell the truth, you’ll seek justice, not in the spirit of self-righteousness, but in spirit of humility tied to a moral tenacity” — Dr. Cornel West, 2020