Ditsmayri, Kashatagh Region, Armenian-controlled Republic of Azerbaijan — Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / IWPR

Following on from my recent return visit to Lachin, the strategic main artery connecting Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh, and an article for Eurasianet on depopulation in the disputed Kashatagh region, the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) has published another. Again, it’s on attempts to populate the region with Armenian settlers and the recent exodus of those that did move to the territory with the promise of new homes, land, livestock and social benefits.

The local residents of Suarassy seem oblivious to the hidden danger as they herd cattle down a road known to have been mined during the Armenian-Azerbaijani war of the early Nineties. Despite the mangled military lorry rusting in a ditch to one side, none of their cows have so far detonated seven anti-tank mines still believed to be buried underneath, so they reckon the road is safe.

Less than a metre away is forest and grazing land laden with at least 900 anti-personnel landmines. Yura Sharamanian, operations officer for the HALO Trust, compares the minefield to Cambodia and says that the British de-mining charity considers Lachin to be the most mine-infested region in Karabakh and surrounding regions, which were fought over during the 1991-4 war.

Although considered by the international community to be occupied Azerbaijani land, this territory is now marked on Armenian maps as Kashatagh. Also including the formerly Azerbaijani regions of Kubatly and Zangelan as well as Lachin itself, Kashatagh stretches down to the Iranian border in the south.

This strip of land between Armenia and Karabakh is one of the key points in dispute in the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. And it is also home to a few thousand hardy Armenian settlers who have moved here since the 1994 ceasefire.

However, it is not just the danger of landmines that threatens the existence of new settlements in the Kashatagh region. Although a 2005 census put the official population of Kashatagh at 9,800 Armenians, with 2,200 residing in the town of Lachin, the actual figure is now believed to be around fifty per cent less.

The full article accompanied by photographs is here. The article is one of three from an IWPR special on Karabakh. The other two are here and here. Some of my photographs from Lachin and Kashatagh 2000-03 can be found online here.

Suarassy, Kashatagh Region, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

According to military maps 8 anti-tank mines were laid on this 500 meter road. One detonated when a truck passed over it and as a result HALO Trust won’t drive their vehicles along this road until it’s been thoroughly checked. Local settlers, however, believe that because their cattle and horses have yet to detonate any of the possible seven remaining mines, the road is safe — and it might be.

However, running parallel to the road is a minefield of approximately 900 anti-personnel mines. To date, HALO Trust have cleared 504 of them, but I was amazed to see how many remained — a group of three here, four there, and so on. What was even more amazing was to see local cattle and horses run straight towards the minefield until a HALO Trust deminer shouted warnings to the villagers.

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Meghvadzor, Kashatagh Region, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

Another minefield close to Meghvadzor, but this time being cleared. Again, the mines were anti-personnel. However, not as large as the minefield we were later to visit. Anyway, HALO Trust is based in Stepanakert, capital of the self-declared Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and employs 200 local staff and is headed by 1 expat Programme Manager. There are 5 Mine Clearance teams, 1 Mechanical Mine Clearance section, 4 Battle Area Clearance (BAC) teams, 2 General Survey teams and 1 Mine Risk Education Team.

[…] defensive minefields were laid by both Azeri and pro-Karabakhi forces. Moves in the front lines resulted in minefields and significant quantities of UXO being left in peaceful areas needed for agriculture. In many areas access to prime land is denied and the steady stream of casualties indicates the requirement for widespread mineclearance ahead of cultivation. Aid organisations in the region have had to restrict their operations due to fears of landmines on or just beside roads and the presence of unexploded ordnance in and around many villages.

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Meghvadzor, Kashatagh Region, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2006

One of the main purposes of my return visit to Lachin was to look at the work of the HALO Trust in the region. The international mine clearance charity have been working in what is now known as the Kashatagh region for over two years, and there’s a reason for that. During the war with Azerbaijan over the disputed mainly-Armenian inhabited region of Nagorno Karabakh, the area around Lachin saw some of the fiercest fighting in the conflict.

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Internally Displaced Person (IDP), Berd, Tavoush Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2004

As Nessuna has just got back from Berd in the old Shamsadin district of what is now the Tavoush region and is planning to post something on her visit, I thought I’d post a photo from my second visit to the town in 2004. Seemingly cut off from the rest of Armenia, like other urban centers such as Chambarak in the old Krasnosyelsk district, being situated close to the border with Azerbaijan hasn’t done anyone any favors.

Cross border shelling, landmines and a general lack of investment has resulted in a huge exodus from what is considered a vitally strategic area. In an article on landmines in Armenia in 2002, I wrote more about this.

Because those displaced by cross-border skirmishes, landmines and poor socio-economic conditions have found temporary accommodation in nearby villages, the low visibility of the problem has manifested itself as a lack of attention. The Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Internally Displaced People (IDPs), Dr. Francis Deng, highlighted those concerns when he visited Armenia in May 2000.

Gagik Yeganyan, Head of the State Department for Migration and Refugees, says that for the past two years, authorities have started to take the matter seriously. “On 14 December 2000, a plan for the Post Conflict Rehabilitation of the Bordering Territories of the Republic of Armenia was approved by the Government,” he explains.

More than 23,000 houses, 78 education centers, 62 medical centers, 512km of potable and 724km of irrigation pipes, and 575km of roads were damaged by cross-border shelling and the total cost to rehabilitate the border is estimated at over $80 million. Under the Government initiative, an estimated 39,000 people will return to their homes and conditions for 28,000 who have returned already will be improved.

However, the regional authorities estimate that as much as 9,000 hectares of Tavoush is mined, fuelling concerns that the landmine problem in Armenia is greater than many realize. According to Jemma Hasratian of the Armenian National Committee of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), it is difficult to fully estimate the extent of the problem given that both regular and irregular forces were responsible for laying mines and few accurate maps exist.

“Nobody knows how many mines there are,” she says, “but we’re working with the figure of 50,000.”

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Minefield, Askeran, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2002

To continue on the theme of landmines and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO), it’s perhaps only right to look at the situation where the problem is likely to be most acute — in Nagorno Karabakh itself. Although the number of casualties is actually quite low in comparison to other zones of conflict, plans to increase the territory’s population and to farm land cause some concern that the number of incidents will increase over time.

In Nagorno Karabakh defensive minefields were laid by both Azeri and pro-Karabakhi forces. Moves in the front lines resulted in minefields and significant quantities of UXO being left in peaceful areas needed for agriculture. In many areas access to prime land is denied and the steady stream of casualties indicates the requirement for widespread mineclearance ahead of cultivation. Aid organisations in the region have had to restrict their operations due to fears of landmines on or just beside roads Naand the presence of unexploded ordnance in and around many villages.

In fact, as any visitor to Karabakh will tell you, it is often hard to imagine that war ever took place in what is otherwise a scenic and mountainous location. Unless you visit the “mini-Hiroshimas” of Aghdam and Fizulu or villages close to the frontline in Mardakert, only the occasional warning signs alerting people to the danger of landmines and UXO indicate that any conflict might of occured at all.

As you can guess, appearances can be deceptive.

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Refugee, Silikyan, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 1994

Although as many as 20,000 civilians and combatants died during the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, the cost in terms of displaced persons was significantly more. Approximately 1 million Armenians and Azerbaijanis were forced to flee their homes in both republics during tit-for-tat expulsions and ethnic cleansing.

Yet, while the focus of the international community has been on IDPs and Refugees in Azerbaijan, that’s not to say that Armenia was spared. In 2004, I travelled to the north eastern Tavoush region of Armenia with Tim Straight, then head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Armenia. Although the Armenian government officially puts the number of refugees at 240,000, it is believed that most have left for Russia and other countries.

Informed sources estimate that there may be no more than 70,000 left in Armenia, but regardless, none are going to return to their former homes in Azerbaijan even if a peace deal is signed in 2006. Therefore, the question of compensation for refugees and IDPs on both sides still remains unanswered. This issue was touched upon in an interview I held with Straight in 2004.

Officially, there are 36,000 Azeri-owned houses that are now occupied by Armenians and I have no reason to believe that this number is incorrect. Those might sound like strange words today, fifteen or sixteen years later. That is, that they’re Azeri owned but that they’re occupied. Of course, these refugees fully consider them to be their houses. Legally, however, they’re not.

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I’m not sure but comparing it to the Bosnian situation, a lot of the deals that were made when the Serbs left Bosnia and the Bosniaks were thrown out of Serbia were made under duress and were later declared null and void. However, that was also a completely different situation. There was a lot of focus, a lot of pressure, a lot of money and, in fact, a lot of everything in Bosnia.

Here in Armenia, there’s not a lot of donor presence, not a lot of focus, not a lot of interest and there will be no progress or decision made on this issue until a peace deal is signed. Do they own those houses or not? What about those 36,000 houses that Armenians have been living in for up to sixteen years? Can they be legally titled to those families? What about compensation to the Azeris that used to own them?

What about compensation for those Armenians with apartments in Baku?

None of that is going to be solved until there’s a peace agreement and it has to be part of any deal. You can’t make a durable peace agreement without addressing these issues and they’re horribly complicated. So, in as much as everybody says it’s important, yes it is, but we can’t do anything about it now. In cooperation with UNHCR all we can do is just say that there can’t be a peace agreement without addressing those issues.

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