Suddenly, more than 80 percent of people in Nagorno-Karabakh have fled.
Last week the unrecognized Armenian republic, called “Artsakh” by its 120,000 residents, suffered an invasion by Azerbaijan, which is recognized internationally as sovereign over the enclave nestled in the Caucasus Mountains.
At least 32 people were killed in the assault that violated a Russian-backed ceasefire, with at least 68 more killed six days later in a suspicious fuel depot explosion.
But more than the death count, fear of genocide is driving people to flee—more than 97,700 as of 6 p.m. Friday evening, according to Armenian officials [updated]. Though the enclave is home to around 400 holy sites now at risk of erasure, one official stated that 99.9 percent of Artsakh’s Armenians will cross the border to Armenia, the world’s first Christian nation.
The same crossing had been blocked by Azerbaijan since December 2022.
Near-starvation conditions ensued, with humanitarian aid allowed entry one day prior to the Azerbaijani offensive. The Artsakh government issued a decree to dissolve itself as of January 1, ceding control of a territory it declared independent after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Armenians controlled Nagorno-Karabakh since 1994, after a three-year war resulted in the deaths of 30,000 people, displacing an additional 100,000 in mutual exchange between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Peace talks faltered since then, as they continued to fail after 2020, when a 44-day war resulted in Azerbaijan reclaiming much of the enclave. A further 7,000 were killed before the Russian ceasefire.
Azerbaijan has promised that Armenians in the territory will be integrated as full citizens with equal rights, joining other non-Azeri ethnicities which comprise 8 percent of the population. In the Shiite-majority nation with a substantial Sunni minority, the small Christian community generally reports overall freedom of religion.
The European Parliament and Minority Rights Group, however, have stated that Azerbaijan’s ethnicities suffer discrimination. Artsakh Armenians fear much worse.
Imagine if 80 percent of Hartford, Connecticut, suddenly fled to New York.
The Armenian diaspora is stunned. The Armenian Apostolic Church has declared a worldwide day of prayer for October 1. And on October 5, Europeans for Artsakh has called for a rally in Brussels, to coincide with planned peace talks between the Armenian prime minister and the Azerbaijani president.
Like many, Hrayr Jebejian is at a loss. The general secretary of the Bible Society in the Gulf, also a Lebanese-born Armenian, resides in Kuwait and spoke to CT about his overall state of depression—but also his enduring trust in God.
How has the loss of Artsakh impacted you personally?
I am an Armenian. No matter how objective or balanced I seek to be, there is a lot of emotion. It is depressing. Even as a believer I am trying to pull myself together, so that I can continue to live my everyday life. It is affecting me that much.
I want to work, but I have no motivation. I have friends in Artsakh, I’ve been checking in on them, and they are traumatized. A teacher there told me: How can we stay, when there is a sword over our head?
Did you have hope when humanitarian aid was first allowed in?
I was closely following developments, and all the suffering from the blockade. Thirty thousand kids live there! And international experts said that ethnic cleansing was taking place. I can’t say this outcome wasn’t expected. It was expected.
But it all happened so fast.
From a political perspective, Artsakh had an elected president and parliament. Azerbaijan is a dictatorship, passed from father to son. If you put the Armenians into the middle of that, when they were used to democratic opposition and criticizing the government, it will be very difficult for them.
We don’t know how many people will stay. But there is no trust.
But the ancestral land and ancient monasteries are so important to Armenians. Are there voices calling for them to stay anyway and insist on the promises of equal citizenship?
There is a…
This article was originally published at Christianity Today, on September 29, 2023. Please click here to read the full text.
Jayson Casper 