Topography of silence at the frontline of Armenia’s future

Since the announcement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process, it has become increasingly difficult to ignore how Armenia’s internal chilling effect plays straight into the hands of the Pan-Turkic revisionist agenda across the border. This repression facilitates the legitimization of an invasion of Armenia if the coercive terms of the agreement aren’t met. In this climate, border communities, notably in Syunik, are often dissuaded from speaking openly about their first-hand experience with the elephant in the room: Armenia’s existential threat. And even when they do speak, the government’s official rhetoric quickly flattens their testimony, insisting that peace has already been “established,” even before any agreement has been signed — a stark oxymoron that conditions the public to equate silence with safety. The only way I could truly get a grasp of what was happening in Syunik was by visiting the southern Armenian province in person, wherever that remained possible.

My first stop was Kornidzor, a border village nestled on the western edge of the Vorotan River gorge overlooking Artsakh. The pristine, renovated road leading there was surrounded by new military positions, standing in stark contrast to rusting rest areas and food courts abandoned mid-construction. Before entering the village, I reached the furthest point possible on that empty road, right where it spirals down towards the Hakari Bridge on the line of contact.