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There are still reminders here of more peaceful times under Soviet domination. In the capital, Stepanakert, a Soviet-era sculpture outside a children's polyclinic is a reminder of the amity that once prevailed. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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An old house on Stepanyan Street in Stepanakert. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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In downtown Stepanakert, hints of the Soviet past lie around every corner. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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But with de facto independence has come a surge of investment by members of the vast Armenian diaspora, who see Karabakh as a hugely significant emblem of Armenian nationhood. The Ardshininvest Bank building, on Freedom Fighters Avenue, is an example. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Old Soviet memorials to World War II have been elaborated into monuments to the war against Azerbaijan as well. An Armenian cross stone has been added to the 1945 monument in Stepanakert. The wreaths commemorate fighters who died two decades ago. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Saro Saroyan fled Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and now lives in Karabakh, where he teaches civil defense. He says refugees have never been fully integrated into Karabakh’s society. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Sanvel Bektashyan, 57, holding his four-year-old son Mesrop. Bektashyan, who lives in the town known to Armenians as Shushi, says that Armenians and Azerbaijanis will be able to live together again--in, perhaps, 200 years. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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A Karabakh soldier and his girlfriend leave after visiting a Shia mosque in Shushi that is now a historical site. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Children in Shushi gather outside an old house that now serves as a history museum, with one room devoted to the capture of the town by Armenians in 1992. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Armenian children climb on a tank that now serves as a monument to the capture of Shushi. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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For centuries, armies have marched through the Dziarshav Valley, leading toward the heart of Nagorno Karabakh. It has been a scene of resistance and annihilation. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Nagorno means mountainous in Russian, and it aptly defines the region. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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At the mountaintop Gandzasar Monastery, St. John the Baptist Church was built between 1216 and 1238. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Boys run inside the monastery wall. Leaning against it are traditional Armenian "cross stones." Behind are the mountains. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Women wait for a church service, a liturgy to honor the Armenian “martyrs” who died fighting the Muslim Azerbaijanis, to begin at Gandzasar Monastery. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Sisters Anna (left) and Maria Khachatryan, 7 and 8 years old, wait expectantly for other members of their family to light candles at St. John the Baptist Church, at Gandzasar. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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After two boys in his family were baptized at Gandzasar Monastery, Hamlet Grigoryan, a retired university rector (he's the one with the beard), hosted a celebratory lunch for relatives, friends and colleagues. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Galya Arstamyan, who runs a war museum in Stepanakert, stands by a photo of her son Grigory with his Russian girlfriend on the day he was discharged from the Soviet Army so he could go to Nagorno-Karabakh to take up arms against Azerbaijan. Later that year he was killed. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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But not everyone has time to dwell on the war. Nikolai Ghulyan and Ashot Harutyumyan (left to right) complain that they're paid less than $10 a day as farm workers in Nagorno-Karabakh. They say life was better in Soviet times. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Summer evening lingers in Stepanakert. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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The mountains north of town catch the last of the twilight. Image by Will Englund. Nagorno-Karabakh, 2011.
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Published July 29, 2011

Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave of ethnic Armenians that was—and officially still is—part of Azerbaijan. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Karabakhis went to war against Azerbaijan, with help from Armenia proper. Though a ceasefire was signed in 1994, no peace settlement has ever been reached. Azerbaijan still wants to reclaim Karabakh, and Karabakhis swear they’ll never let that happen. It was the scene of the first post-Soviet conflict, and with relations growing tense and peace efforts by the international community coming to nothing, there’s a fear that the fighting could resume.

Project

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Cold War in the Caucasus

Twenty years in limbo: Nothing exemplified the collapse of the Soviet Union like the bloody fighting over Nagorno Karabakh, and today that enclave remains a source of bitterness and tension.
Nagorno-Karabakh
August 11, 2011 / The Washington Post

20 Years After Soviet Fall, Peace Elusive in Karabakh

Will Englund
Armenia and Azerbaijan may be on the brink of another bloody battle over the disputed land of Nagorno-Karabakh, a de-facto state in the mountainous region of the South Caucasus.
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August 3, 2011 / Untold Stories

Nagorno-Karabakh’s Future

Will Englund
Nagorno-Karabakh faces an unpredictable future as it fights for international recognition.
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