Detained by KGB — Back from Lachin
Have literally just stepped in the door after returning from 4 days in Lachin, the strategic main town linking Armenia with Nagorno Karabakh. Had wanted to stay longer, but for the first time in many years of visiting Lachin to work on a personal photographic project I was detained by the local KGB on my first full day in the town before being sent to Stepanakert.
Ironically, a group of police and KGB were waiting for me as I left an interview with the Acting Governor of the Kashatagh region. This was even more absurd given the fact that along with the Head of the Department of Resettlement, the Deputy Governor, who was Acting Governor while I was there, had given me permission to visit villages outside of Lachin, now renamed Berdzor.
Instead, the local KGB said that they had more power than the Acting Governor and that my movement was restricted to Berdzor, but even then, Stepanakert refused to provide me with permission to be in the town — probably so that they could detain me again for anything they wanted. “I won’t say goodbye,” said the interrogating agent as I left his office, “because I’ll be seeing you again.”
Sources within the Kashatagh administration told me later that the order to detain me and restrict my movement came from Yerevan. One official told me that this was in part due to my work in the past on other issues, but also because of recent articles published by Hetq Online on conditions in villages in the region. One article is available in English here.
While many people didn’t like Edik Baghdasarian’s sledgehammer approach to journalism which they feel might cause even more damage to the policy of settlement in the region, they also didn’t dispute what he wrote. Indeed, while the Deputy Governor of Kashatagh put the official population of the region at 9,800 in 2005, other officials estimated that real figure is more likely 5-6,000.
According to sources in the local Kashatagh administration, if something now happens to change the situation in the Lachin region as a result of those articles then that’s good and these articles needed to be written. If it doesn’t however, even less people will move to the area. Still, that’s not the fault of journalists — that’s the fault of whoever is responsible for the situation.
Almost every resident of Kashatagh I spoke to — including local officials speaking on the condition of anonymity — said what was written was true and the issues raised must be addressed immediately. “The situation is getting bad, very bad, and no one cares,” said one official. “He wrote the truth,” said a resident. “That’s good.”
Anyway, more to say and write later, but for now I need to take a break and to sort out some images. While my movement was restricted to the town of Berdzor, I did at least manage to get down south for half a day before being detained. Even as close as 30km to Lachin, village populations have halved and some are even dead.
Until then, I blogged about this and my work in the region here.
You safe and sound?
Comment by Zarchka — August 25, 2006 @ 9:02 pm
;)
Comment by Zarchka — August 25, 2006 @ 9:03 pm
Onnik, you should consider your detainment a sign of success. It’s more than time for the authorities to be feeling pressure for their worse-than-half-assed resettlement efforts.
Comment by Vahe — August 26, 2006 @ 12:33 am
I don’t quite understand what’s going on. Artsakh is Dashnak (so I’m told), the assassins of the Armenian parliamentary members were Dashnak. Why work against an economic reform that most probably would have helped Armenia and her satellite Artsakh?
Or maybe it wouldn’t have. Hey, do know if the economic reform was unveiled before they were assassinated? If so, do you know how I could obtain a copy?
Comment by Esoteric — August 26, 2006 @ 3:02 am
Dashnak? No, not really. In fact, in recent years the Dashnaks and the Karabakh authorities have come to blows — in some cases literally. In Kashatagh, incidently, the most vocal critics of the current Governor are also Dashnaks. However, that’s not to say that it’s only the Dashnaks that are critical — everybody was. It’s just that more people supportive of the ARF-D spoke openly and on the record.
Comment by Onnik — August 26, 2006 @ 10:13 am
Ok, well that makes more sense now. I don’t know who told me Artsakh was governed by Dashnaks, but I was under that impression for a while now.
Comment by Esoteric — August 26, 2006 @ 12:06 pm
The ARF-D are part of the ruling coalition in Armenia, but in Karabakh they are effectively in opposition to the Government. This was particularly true last year during the parliamentary elections held in the territory. Like I said, the ARF-D and the Government in Karabakh have literally exchanged blows.
Comment by Onnik — August 26, 2006 @ 1:16 pm
So did you run into my buddy Victor Kocharian? He is not realted to Robert Kocharian by blood, but his wife and Kocharian’s wife are sisters.
It sounds to me like the government of Armenia is very concerned about the conditions in Lachin and instead of dealing with them as they should, they are trying to cover them up again.
Your doing a great job. Write up your interviews and keep the presure on. As we know in the past, reporting the truth is what gets us needed changes.
And for those of you who fear for Onnik or Edik for their reporting about Lachin from the government, don’t. The reality is that these people who are causing the problems there are just a bunch of punks and to cause physical harm to those who expose them is not an option since they will have to answer to a higher power for such actions.
Comment by Ara Manoogian — August 27, 2006 @ 1:20 am
Ara, what does he look like? Wasn’t in a good mood to exchange introductionsin Stepanakert not that I think any were made anyway.
Comment by Onnik — August 27, 2006 @ 9:27 pm
Nice reports. Karabakh sounds like a bummer. I think they should get the dispute settled so it can return to prosperity. It’s dragging Armenia down and bringing it back to shape will require both Armenia and Azerbaijan working together on it.
Comment by Christian — August 28, 2006 @ 5:58 am
He is an older guy of about 55, a little bit grey and very nice in terms of how he talks to people. I guess he is second in command of the KGB in NKR. His office is on the 2nd floor to the left of when you come up the stairs on the right hand side of the hall.
Comment by Ara Manoogian — August 29, 2006 @ 8:12 am