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© 1996, Raffi
I recently returned from a trip to Artsakh. In this small space, I jotted
down an account of my trip. I tried to be as descriptive as possible, but
there is just too much to write about. I hope many of you get the chance to
visit - it is well worth the effort. Hachoghutyun!!! Raffi
My Trip to Artsakh - July 7-10, 1996
My brother and I recently travelled to the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh (RNK
or NKR) for an all too brief stay of about 4 days. Although my stay was
short, what I was able to see was most impressive. The people, the places,
the culture were all incredible. This was what I had always imagined Armenia
to be while growing up in the USA. I now feel that any trip to Armenia would
be woefully incomplete without a visit - for Artsakh is a most beautiful part
of our Armenian homeland.
My plans to visit got started when I discovered that RNK had internet access.
At first I couldn't believe it and sent an email - not thinking it would
get there (much like letters sent to Armenia via the post office). Much to
my surprise, I quickly received a response from Sam R. Mailian
(sam@nic.nk.am). After a few letters, I was a believer.
I told Sam that I was planning a vacation to Armenia and would like to travel
to NKR if possible. Sam gave me the names of the people to contact in Armenia
to receive the appropriate paperwork. NKR doesn't have an embassy in Armenia,
but has an office in the "Special Programs Department" of the Armenian
government on Moscowian Street in Yerevan. For a modest fee of $25, I have a
RNK Visa glued into my passport for all to see!
Travelling to NKR is a real journey. The main north-south road in Armenia is
pretty good. After filling up the car with benzene in Goris we took off for
the Lachin Corridor. What a horrible road! A non-paved wreck of a path that
crawls along the sides of mountains from Goris to Stepanakert via Lachin.
There are very few villages in the corridor. Just rusting wrecks of buses
and armoured vehicles that drove or were blown off the road and fell down the
side of the mountain. But the scenery - what a beautiful country!! Words
can't do it justice.
The construction crews are hard at work on the road. Only a small segment is
complete - a well paved road where you can drive really fast (but the
Autobahn it ain't!). At four different places on the corridor, construction
was on-going. The crews are ripping down sides of mountains to widen the
road. Going back and forth to RNK we had to stop and wait for a while until
the road could be reopened. Driving fast around slow moving trucks,
especially around steep mountain bends, is an experience everyone should have
at least once.
Entering Lachin is when you start seeing the war close up. This former
Turkish city is built on the side of a mountain. It was pretty much
destroyed - but Armenians are moving in and rebuilding it. From what I was
told, the Armenians took the city with relative ease so much of the
destruction must have been caused later on. I understand that 10,000
Armenians live in Lachin now. After Lachin, you enter the RNK.
There isn't much between Lachin and Shushi - which the road travels alongside
on the way to Stepanakert. In the outskirts of Shushi, the road passes the
Tank Monument - the first Armenian tank that made it into Shushi in May 1992.
A Turkish BMP fired a missile at it and blew it up - killing the 3 Armenian
crewman. A plaque provides their names and people passing by stop and place
flowers in their honor.
When you get into Stepanakert what you see would surprise you. A large,
clean and well kept town that looks totally rebuilt. You can still see
shrapnel pocked walls - but the city has a new feel to it. The local people
said that after Agdam was captured, the people of Stepanakert hauled back
building materials and whatever they could salvage to rebuild their city.
Needless to say, there isn't much left of Agdam.
Stepanakert is where I finally met the man behind the email - Sam Mailian. A
very impressive young man who could teach most American hackers a thing or
two about computers. The Karabakhtsis are computer genuises - if you see the
system they set up from scratch you would know what I mean. My brother and I
donated a 486dx100 motherboard to help speed things up. According to Sam,
the board is now on-line and running. Visit http://www.nic.nk.am/about.html
for a sample of what is available. We also had the distinct pleasure of
meeting Sergei Shahverdian of the ANIS News Agency (news@anis.nk.am). Sergei
has been a great source of news from Karabakh over the years and many of you
have probably read his articles in Asbarez.
While in RNK, we took a trip north to the Martakert Province. We passed the
ancient fortress of Khatchaghakberd - you can't believe something like that
could have been built. A huge fortress on top of a huge mountain - with no
roads leading up to it. The main aim of our trip that day was to visit the
ancient monastery of Gandzasar (arguably the most impressive of all churches
in Armenia). It is built atop a tall mountain overlooking the village named
Vank. The stone work at Gandzasar was flawless. Every Sunday the church is
packed with Armenians who make their way up the mountain. Unfortunately,
during the war, Turkish jets tried to destroy Gandzasar - but the missiles
hit a building in front to the church.That building is now almost completely
rebuilt. Only some very minor damage to the wall of the church resulted from
these attacks.
Martakert is filled with lush green forests - enough so that it is jokingly
referred to as "Vietnam". I don't think there are many places that can
compare to it - it is very much like Switzerland. All of the trees bear some
form of fruit - walnuts, mulberries, cherries etc... There are many springs
and fountains in Karabakh. Aram, one of the men that travelled with us, knew
each and every akhpuyr on the "road" to Martakert. We stopped at each one
just to take a taste.
The next day we visited Shushi - a fortress city that looms over Stepanakert.
An ancient Armenian fortress and citidel is still largely intact. Turks
once lobbed missiles down at Stepanakert during the war. Now, the Armenians
have it and people are moving back to reclaim it. Prior to WW1, Shushi had a
population of about 25,000 people - 18,000 Armenians and the rest Turks.
Those numbers reversed during the Turkish occupation. Now it is 100%
Armenian. Spent (and live) bullets and shells are all over the cliff areas
at the Sanitarium; an area where many firefights took place.
There are 2 beautiful Armenian churches in Shushi - the cathedral (Sourp
Ghazan-Tchetchots) and the vank (Kanatch Zham). The cathedral is unique in
that it is made out of white stone and is one of the biggest Armenian
churches. Workers are rebuilding it. The marble flooring has been delivered
and is awaiting installation. The Turks used to the cathedral to store
ammunition during the war - much of which was captured when Armenians took
the city. The vank is being renovated. Two young tbir's were studying there
during our visit. The Iranian Mosque was in bad shape - but Armenians were
working to renovate it. We climbed the minarets and chanted as much Arabic
as we knew (very little). Interesting to note that there was no visible
graffiti on the mosque - unlike the churches. A second mosque near the hotel
was pretty much ruined during the fighting.
Later in the day, we took a trip to see Amaras - a very ancient church in the
Martouni region. This church once housed the bones of Gregory the
Illuminator's grandson - who was the Catholicos of Artsakh. His kerezman was
very deep below the khoran - but his bones are now gone. Different people
told us different stories - either that the Armenians hid the bones; took
them to Etchmiadzin; or the Turks stole them while ransacking the church
looking for gold. Anyway, the church is being restored. We watched stone
carvers delicately recreating the pieces of the church destroyed during the
fighting. A huge battle took place on the hill overlooking Amaras. Haig, a
RNK soldier, described the battle that took place a few years ago. The Turks
had 300 men and 15 tanks on the ridge overlooking the church. The Armenians
didn't have any tanks - but somehow were able to knock out most of the tanks,
causing the Turks to retreat. I think 5 of the tanks were later captured,
repaired and used by the Karabakh Army. It was a major victory at a time
when victories were few and far between.
It was getting late, so we drove through Azerbaijan in order to get home. We
took the Martouni- Agdam road - which was very well paved. All of the roads
between Turkish regions of NKR were beautiful - unlike the roads connecting
Armenian regions. There we saw Agdam - what appears to have been a very
beautiful and wealthy city. It has been pounded into ash. In Askeran, we
visited another tank monument. This tank was also the first to make it into
Turkish terrority - but it drove over an anti-tank mine and exploded.
Another three young Armenian fighters died.
That is my trip in a nutshell. I could write much more but I'll save that
for another day. If anyone would like to talk further, please email me. It
is my hope that all Armenians get a chance to visit and help our people who
trying their best to preserve a very small, but wonderful piece of Armenia.
© 1996, Raffi - No reproduction without authors permission.
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