Demographic Crisis in Lachin
Suarassy, Kashatagh Region, Armenian controlled Republic of Azerbaijan / Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / Eurasianet 2006
Eurasianet has published my article on the demographic crisis in and around Lachin, the strategic main artery connecting the Republic of Armenia with the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. The article is part of an ongoing project documenting life in the region and follows an article written in 2001 for Transitions Online that I blogged about here. Anyway, this new article is just one of at least two that should surface in the near future.
Over the past 14 years, Lachin has been reshaped by the ebb and flow of humanity. In May 1992, during the height of the Karabakh conflict, Armenian forces captured Lachin. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Typical of most military operations against towns and villages during the war, buildings were razed and entire populations forced to flee. Accordingly, at least 20,000 Azerbaijanis and Kurds evacuated the area when Armenian forces approached the town.
Armenians remained in possession of the Lachin corridor, renamed Kashatagh, and several other Azerbaijani territories after the signing of a Karabakh cease-fire in 1994. Shortly thereafter, Armenia implemented a resettlement policy. Robert Matevosian, head of the department of resettlement for the region, says that the first Armenian arrivals came to the region out of a sense of patriotism. These territories, “regardless of the consideration of diplomats, must be inhabited by Armenians,” he says.
The official line is that most of the Lachin corridor’s new residents are refugees and internally displaced persons. The situation on the ground, however, suggests otherwise. It seems many of the new arrivals were socially vulnerable families from towns and cities such as Yerevan, Sisian, Jermuk and Gyumri in Armenia proper, as well as from Karabakh itself. They appear to have been recruited to relocate with promises of land, livestock and social benefits.
Gagik Kosakian, deputy governor of the region, has no choice but to stick to the official line. But he does admit that others came as well. “There are those specialists that couldn’t find work in their chosen profession in Armenia who also come here to find employment,” he says from his run-down and cramped office in downtown Lachin, which Armenians have renamed Berdzor.
[…]
The Lachin corridor covers some 3,000 square kilometers and stretches from just below Kelbajar in the north to the Iranian border in the south. Yet, while Lachin’s pre-war [Azerbaijani] population stood at well over 67,000, Kosakian puts the number of [Armenian] settlers in the entire region (that also includes the former Azerbaijani regions of Qubatli and Zangelan) at 9,800 people, including 2,200 living in the town of Lachin itself.
Unofficial estimates, however, put the number far lower.
Because of poor social conditions, as well as a lack of investment and the recent transfer of the regional budget from Armenia to the Karabakh territorial government, both officials and activists in Lachin say that many families are leaving. Indeed, while the region’s population was estimated at 15,000 in 2002, there are concerns that out-migration is now reaching epidemic proportions. Sources within the local administration estimated the population to be in the 5,000-6,000 range in 2006.
The full Eurasianet article can be read here, while some of the images I’ve shot in Lachin 2000-2003 are here.
I went to dativank in Kelbadjar district renamed Shahumian marz.
I drove from Vardenis to haterk(N.K.R) about 100 miles,it s terrible the roads
are almost unable,inpracticable.It was on july 2006.the place ,the landscape
are gorgeous ,i was wondering how the people are living,there is NOTHING
no schools no hospitals,where are both governement Armenia and NKR….
Its a shame,someone ,a doctor in Stepanakert told me ,we ll lost karabagh
without war,we re already loosing…………
Comment by raffi derkaloustian — October 3, 2006 @ 9:35 am
Onnik,
why are you describing the liberated Armenian territories, as “Armenian controlled Republic of Azerbaijan” under each picture that you have here? Azerbaijanis have lost their legal basis to claim much of Artsakh and Utik as theirs, after they declared to be the continuation of Azerbaijani Republic that was established in 1918. Between 1918-1921, neither Artsakh or Nakhichevan were part of Azerbaijani republic. Thank you.
Comment by Menua — October 26, 2006 @ 4:54 am
Simply because when I write I have to follow internationally accepted norms and currently nobody officially recognizes the territory as “liberated.” Technically, Karabakh recognizes Lachin as part of it, but as NK is not recognized as a State even by Armenia the situation becomes confused unless writing for nationalist Armenian media.
On the other hand, I think in some other posts I wrote “Lachin, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh” or also added the words “Kashatagh Region,” so you can see that I have not yet worked out a consistent way of referring to the territory. However, in the international media it is technically and almost always referred to as “occupied Azerbaijan.”
Whether it is or if it will ever change is up to politicians and the international community.
Comment by Onnik — October 26, 2006 @ 9:13 am