Spotlight Artsakh

As part of its mirroring propaganda operation during the war that was intended to cloud the information landscape, Azerbaijan also systematically mirrored the Armenian side’s visuals as well.

Faced with loss and uncertainty, the Armenians of Artsakh are trying to come to grips with the defeat following the war and finding a way to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

After 44 days of reluctant and often one-sided reporting of the 2020 Artsakh War and amidst the grey horror of cluster bombed homes, the red flames of Karvajar’s houses instantly made international headlines.

In the context of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the “Albanian connection” has become a politicized issue of irredentism, hijacking the rich Christian heritage of Karabakh. The roots of this historiography go back to the Soviet policy of “nativization".

During the Artsakh War, Azerbaijan used mirroring propaganda to try and keep the two sides on equal moral terms, creating an information fog until international journalists began arriving to the conflict zone.

In Artsakh, there is a somber air of loss, uncertainty and grief. During 45 days of war, everyone and everything from soldiers to villagers, trees to structures were afflicted and irreversibly altered. A collection of images from November 12-14, a few days after the "peace" agreement.

Western countries imposed sanctions on Belarus’ Aleksandr Lukashenko for cracking down on democracy and attacking civilians. Ilham Aliyev has actually been more brutal but has not been penalized.

In the wake of the November 10 ceasefire agreement and introduction of Russian peacekeepers to Artsakh, details of its implementation are still being discussed. Meanwhile, opposition party leaders were arrested for allegedly planning Pashinyan’s assassination.

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship format to remain unchanged. Protests continue in Yerevan. Pashinyan meets with President and parliamentary caucus.

Resolve is different from blind faith that “this too shall pass.” We need the entire Armenian nation to start getting ready for the next encounter, writes Raffi Kassarjian.