International Courant
There have been nonetheless garments on the balconies. Somebody’s quilt was drying on high of one other, however nothing may very well be heard.
Some windowsills had crops on them, maybe watered by the rain the night time earlier than. Every so often just a few cats and canines with collars handed by.
As we walked by way of the empty streets of Stepanakert, there was little signal of the 100,000 souls who referred to as the town house just some days in the past.
The complete inhabitants of primarily ethnic Armenians left very quickly Azerbaijan’s lightning invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh just a few weeks in the past.
Fearing ethnic cleaning, they climbed into automobiles, buses and vans with no matter they might take with them. We had been the primary to achieve entry and noticed what was left behind.
What I had seen within the photographs earlier than coming right here was a spot full of individuals and life.
It was now a abandoned, empty area between the revival sq. and the presidential palace.
It was strewn with chairs, prams, wheelchairs, blankets, half-opened items of baggage, half-eaten items of bread, half-empty cups of tea. You possibly can really feel the urgency of the folks simply getting up and leaving in a rush. An exodus.
An eerie silence awaited because the sound of our automobile attracted the eye of the animals roaming the streets. As we lined extra floor we ultimately reached the Renaissance Sq. or Veratsnound. It seemed like a scene from an apocalyptic film.
Lastly, we got here throughout a lack of life once we encountered a Pink Cross (ICRC) patrol transferring by way of the town, looking for these left behind.
“We’re in search of the aged, the weak, individuals who haven’t any household or neighbors to assist them,” I used to be advised by Marco Succi, who had simply arrived to steer the ICRC’s fast deployment group.
The disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, close to the town of Stepanakert, was invaded by Azerbaijan just a few weeks in the past – Osama Bin Javaid/Al Jazeera
We adopted them to a gathering level the place some aged and disabled folks had been helped by the Pink Cross.
“Even the morgue employees are gone,” Mr. Succi advised me as his group made preparations to repatriate the lifeless as nicely.
“We’ve been working with the Azerbaijani authorities and sit up for working with them in order that we will present help,” he added once I requested him in regards to the new directors within the metropolis. Highway indicators are already being changed.
Water and electrical energy had been nonetheless working once we had been there. Emergency employees are involved in regards to the coming winter and the dearth of entry to rural areas attributable to security issues. Armenian activists requested us to not movie them as a result of additionally they needed to go exterior and never have their faces on digital camera.
However we managed to have a fast dialog with two older gents with opposing views.
The primary was offended and mentioned: “That is my Artsakh, our nation. They may by no means be theirs.”
The opposite man mentioned to our group member, “I wish to stay right here with everybody. I’ve Azerbaijani mates who inform me to not go away, so I keep right here.”
Some puppies got here to us, maybe hungry. There have been just a few canines between my legs, however I wasn’t their human.
They could not odor what they longed for. Near Russian peacekeepers, a canine saved strolling round a sure chair. I feel the proprietor final sat there. They too had been as abandoned because the flats, companies and homes of this metropolis.
The hooves of a stallion strolling together with his group broke the silence within the sq.. These stunning horses had just a few German Shepherds and some Huskies for firm. However there gave the impression to be a code among the many animals: do not make a sound. Maybe they too had been afraid, just like the folks of Stepanakert (referred to as Khankendi in Azerbaijan), who had left for concern of persecution.
A number of guarantees from Azerbaijan did not persuade folks to remain.
“The previous thirty years have Azerbaijan has suffered underneath the occupation. About one million residents of Azerbaijan have turn out to be refugees and displaced individuals and have left this area,” Aykhan Hajizada advised me later.
We heard a shot, however later came upon {that a} joint Russian-Azerbaijani patrol was being shot at from a window. Earlier than the solar set we mentioned goodbye to the town.
Shortly after we arrived in Shusha, the police got here in search of us as a result of we had entered Khankendi ‘illegally’ with out permission. They advised us we had been endangering lives by going into an unknown space.
And after a lot violence and the invention of weapons caches, we had been “silly” to report from and enter this zone. We had been requested to depart the resort and go to the police station, and after just a few hours a police automobile escorted us out of not solely the town, but in addition the Karabakh area.
I’ve met many Azerbaijanis who wish to return to their houses after being displaced thirty years in the past. Armenian troops took this space.
So if that is the top of the highway for tens of hundreds of ethnic Armenians, it may very well be the start for tons of of hundreds of Azerbaijanis.
I want to return to this metropolis, this area. Hopefully then will probably be bustling with life once more, and now not a ghost city.
Osama Javaid is a correspondent for Al-Jazeera.
The silent streets of Stepanakert the place 100,000 folks ‘disappeared’
Asia Area Information ,Subsequent Massive Factor in Public Knowledg
