The latest war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh may be over, but "normality" has not returned to the region.
In many ways, it never will.
This is clearly visible along the road to the capital, Stepanakert, as it passes by the entrance to Shushi, a city a few kilometres away. After half a dozen sandbagged Russian peacekeeping positions, a large new sign emblazoned with the city's Azerbaijani name, Shusha, and flanked by the flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey. Russian troops guide vehicles past two fortified Azerbaijani checkpoints, with heavily armed Azerbaijani soldiers a few hundred metres away. Stepanakert, and indeed Karabakh, still feels like it is under siege.
In Stepanakert, life has returned with startling speed. Barely three weeks since the entire capital was emptied of civilians as Azerbaijani forces closed in during the waning days of the war, the streets are once again packed with people. Stores are stocked and operating, streets have been cleared of debris, and although Armenian Karabakh soldiers in uniform are still omnipresent, so too are civilians going about their lives.
The veneer of normality is misleading. The first conversations with locals reveal that life now is nothing like it was before.
There are two main centres of life in Stepanakert these days. One is the social affairs office, where people gather to receive a one-time relief payment of 83,000 dram, roughly $170, from the Armenian Karabakh administration.
Mikael, 71, is a retiree from the village of Vazgenashen, which has since reassumed it Azerbaijani name, Gyulably. It was handed over to Azerbaijani control as part of Agdam region on November 20, as one of the conditions of the ceasefire deal.
“The clothes you see me in are all I have,” Mikael says, rubbing his hands to keep warm in the cold morning air. “We don’t have a home, we hardly have any of our possessions. We barely have our lives, and who knows for how much longer,” he adds grimly.
Asya Arushudyan, a 26-year-old teacher of Russian and mother of three, has similar problems despite being two generations younger.
“I am happy we were able to return to our country,” she says with a cautious smile. “But we are still afraid. The Azerbaijanis are right there,” she says, pointing in the direction of Shushi, visible on a high hillside just a few kilometres away.
Ella Mirzoyan, a 53-year-old schoolteacher, captures the mood. “We’re still afraid,” she says, having just returned to Stepanakert after leaving on the first day of the war, September 27. “I hope the Russians will be able to protect us.”
"The Russians" are the topic of the moment in Karabakh these days.
If the Russians weren't here now, then we wouldn't have come back
Russia has officially deployed just under 2,000 peacekeepers to Karabakh, along with 90 combat vehicles and 360 other vehicles. Inside Stepanakert, they are more of an occasional sight: a Russian humvee might pass by an intersection, its tricolour waving conspicuously from the hood.
Outside the capital, it is a different story. Russian armoured vehicles and emplacements are everywhere, with small – and sometimes large – convoys constantly traversing the landscape.
“I think the Russians have brought 2,000 BTRs alone,” jokes Vazgen, a taxi driver, referring to the Russian infantry fighting vehicle that is now a ubiquitous feature of Karabakh’s roads.
The Russians are all many people feel they have left to place their hope in.
Conversations at Stepanakert’s marketplace, the other main congregation point, revolve around two topics: betrayal by Armenian authorities, and the salvation to be found in Moscow.
Silva, 53, is a fixture at the market, where she is one of a number of women selling "zhingyalov hats", the herb-stuffed flatbread considered Karabakh’s national dish.
She does not mince words when discussing the outcome of the war, and her opinion of Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia’s prime minister.
“Pashinyan did this,” she says. “He sold us. He brought everyone to Yerevan so he could sell us to the Turks,” she said, referring to the November 8 evacuation of civilians from Stepanakert.
The loss of swathes of Armenian-populated land in Karabakh as a result of the military defeat and truce deal is a particular source of anger.
Mr Pashinyan "should have made some diplomatic deal at the start, if that’s what was necessary”, Silva says.
“He could have given back the seven regions,” she adds, referring to Azerbaijani territory surrounding Karabakh that Armenian forces occupied in the first war from 1988-94 and held until October.
“Instead, he has now also given regions where Armenians have lived for thousands of years. You can walk on the street and see people from Hadrut, from Martuni and Martakert. They have nothing,” she says, referring to areas Armenian-majority areas fully or partially handed over to Azerbaijan.
Like others, she sees Karabakh’s only hope in Russia.
“If the Russians weren’t here now, then we wouldn’t have come back,” she says. “Russia is our saviour.”
Others go yet further in their hopes for Russia, among them Karine Aghajanyan, a 46-year-old salon worker who says her house was hit by Azerbaijanis bombardment on November 8.
“I came here from Baku in 1989. Now the Azerbaijanis have come here for me, too,” Ms Aghajanyan says.
“Honestly, I hope that Russia will just make us like Abkhazia,” she says, referring to another breakaway enclave in the Caucasus whose self-declared independence Russia has recognised and whose citizens have been granted Russian passports.
“We can just become a province of Russia. I have no problem with that.”
For Ms Aghajanyan, and others, the lost war showed that Armenia cannot guarantee Karabakh’s security – and that Russia is the only protector left.
“Our army fought so hard. I am so proud of our soldiers,” she says.
“But obviously Nikol [Pashinyan] could not defend us. So, let Russia do it. We are better off with them anyway.”
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
Find the right policy for you
Don’t wait until the week you fly to sign up for insurance – get it when you book your trip. Insurance covers you for cancellation and anything else that can go wrong before you leave.
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Pre-existing medical conditions such as a heart condition, diabetes, epilepsy and even asthma may not be included as standard. Again, check the terms, exclusions and limitations of any insurance carefully.
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Don’t wait for days to call your insurer if you need to make a claim. You may be required to notify them within 72 hours. Gather together all receipts, emails and reports to prove that you paid for something, that you didn’t use it and that you did not get reimbursed.
Finally, consider optional extras you may need, says Sarah Pickford of Travel Counsellors, such as a winter sports holiday. Also ensure all individuals can travel independently on that cover, she adds. And remember: “Cheap isn’t necessarily best.”
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How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
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The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
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Manchester United 2
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Manchester City 0