The Year: Blockade, war and the unmaking of home
Editor’s note: The following is a photo story by documentary photographer and photojournalist Eugene Shalnov, tracing the events in Armenia and Artsakh from the onset of the Artsakh blockade in Dec. 2022 through the Sept. 2023 military assault and the mass exodus of the Armenian population of Artsakh. Through images of protest, war and displacement, ‘The Year’ documents how a prolonged siege unfolded into irreversible loss.
On Sept. 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military operation in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (the Republic of Artsakh), aiming to establish control over the territory and annex it to Azerbaijan. Artsakh lacked the resources to resist. Its physically and morally exhausted population, without sufficient support for the army, faced a powerful military force that had been preparing for the operation for months. The result was capitulation, which occurred just one day after the fighting began. In the days that followed, more than 100,000 Armenians fled their homes, fearing ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan, which had taken control of the republic.
Millions around the world watched this dramatic week unfold. Yet, this tragedy began long before the gunfire, explosions, deaths and mass exodus of Artsakh’s Armenians.
On Dec. 12, 2022, the road which connects Artsakh with Armenia — the Lachin Corridor — was blocked from the Azerbaijani side, placing Artsakh under blockade. Tensions inside Armenia intensified.
Still reeling from the 2020 war and strained further by the shelling of Jermuk in Sept. 2022, the country suddenly found itself in an increasingly precarious position. Escalation along the border exerted external pressure on society, while political and protest activity intensified in the capital. Competing political views and proposed solutions deepened public divisions.
On that day, an event occurred that would come to mark a dramatic chapter in Armenian history. At the Hakari Bridge, on the Lachin Corridor, Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint — a clear violation of the Nov. 9, 2020 trilateral ceasefire agreement. The Russian Federation, the agreement’s implementation guarantor, was unable to prevent the checkpoint’s establishment, just as it had been unable to prevent the blockade of the corridor itself.
Images from a sit-in strike in front of the government building. Several months before, news emerged that the Chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, spat in the face of a citizen who called him a traitor.
Yerevan, Sept. 19, 2023
From the first day of the renewed conflict, protests engulfed Yerevan. Republic Square, home to the government building, became the epicenter. Initially spontaneous, the gatherings reflected collective anxiety, grief and exhaustion as people worried about relatives and friends in Artsakh. Many found solace in expressing their emotions together in the square.
Opposition political leaders and movements soon joined. A stage was erected each evening, protest leaders emerged and demonstrations became increasingly organized. Within a day, protests evolved from spontaneous assemblies into coordinated marches, road blockades and clashes with police. Gradually, the dominant sentiment shifted from “for Artsakh” to more explicitly “against the government.”
The protests quickly spread across the city. Columns of demonstrators with differing political views moved from square to square, paralyzing traffic in the city center. Students skipped classes to join the demonstrations.
Clashes with police began on the very first day, with the most intense confrontations unfolding near the government building at Republic Square. Protesters hurled stones, bottles and anything they could get their hands on at police, who responded with flash grenades, arrests and crowd-control tactics. During moments of escalation, police lines would suddenly open as officers rushed forward to seize the most aggressive individuals, dragging them behind their shields.
During the daytime, protests were largely nonviolent, marked by marches, conversations with passersby and a constant presence in Republic Square. At night, however, confrontations resumed. From sunset onward, protesters — as long as their strength allowed — clashed with police not only verbally, but physically.
Traces of the protests in the city: overturned trash bins, benches used to block traffic, banners and broken windows in the government building.
From the earliest days of the armed conflict, alongside the protests, charitable organizations and foundations mobilized. Volunteers began collecting and sending humanitarian aid in anticipation of the refugees’ arrival. While it remained unclear how Armenia would accommodate and assist such a large displaced population, it was evident that for many, their first stop would be the city of Goris.
Goris, Sept. 24, 2023
Goris is a city in the east of Syunik Province. It is the first major city on the route from Artsakh where it was possible to organize the reception of refugees. The population of Goris is about 20,000 people. In the following days, the city had to receive more than 100,000 refugees.
A distribution center for people arriving from Artsakh was set up in the Dramatic Theater in the city center. Inside, the ICRC and the VIVA charitable foundation provided medical and social assistance to the refugees. The column of vehicles, stretching for tens of kilometers, ended at this very location. The flow of people was unending, so doctors and volunteers worked around the clock for several days.
The journey from Artsakh to Armenia proved to be another ordeal for those fleeing the war. A massive traffic jam had formed in front of the checkpoint established by Azerbaijan. People made arrangements among themselves, and several families would travel in one vehicle. The truck beds were always full of people and belongings. Many were injured, and many were exhausted from hunger. A man arriving in one of the trucks reported that he had spent three days in such conditions.
The arriving vehicles were packed with belongings. Items were tied to the roofs, trunks and hoods of cars. People tried to take as much as possible with them. As many admitted, they did this because they did not believe they would be able to return home.
From time to time, trucks would back up to the entrance, from which collected humanitarian aid was unloaded. Occasionally, cars and small buses would arrive at the entrance. People who had difficulty moving — elderly individuals or those who were injured — would get out of them.
Adults tried to create a positive atmosphere for children. Volunteers distributed sweets, and relatives entertained the little ones. It was not uncommon to see someone comforting a crying person on one side of a bench, while on the other side, a child was being made to laugh.
Yeghipatrush, Dec. 2023
On the outskirts of the village, in a small house, lives a family of refugees from Artsakh. They moved to this village at the end of September. Everything in the house is very modest. In the middle of the large, empty room stands a table. In the corner is a stove. The woman quickly placed several cups on the table and made coffee for all the guests. The man lit a cigarette and told the harrowing story of how his family escaped from Artsakh, how they searched for a new home and how neighbors helped them once they arrived. It was a terrifying, yet completely typical story for that period. The family had seven children.
And while Azerbaijan was blockading and starving Artsakh, as a prelude of its long-planned ethnic cleansing and conquest – with Turkey’s help, Pashinyan was sending cash-strapped Armenia’s precious aid to Turkish earthquake victims, even though Turkey has ample resources to provide aid to its own citizens! Let that sink in!