Karabakh - a conclusion

I named the posts about Karabakh "Relief in ..." because it was a relief from the depressive and corrupt situation I experienced in Armenia.

The people living in Karabakh live under permanent fear of a new war. They started building up their small state from ruins and it is remarkable what they already achieved. In contrary to Armenia I could see that the available money is invested everywhere. Streets and schools were renovated, also in the small villages. As I wrote, this is a good sign for a proper government. Nevertheless there is still poverty. Maybe because of the permanent danger people care for each other. I cannot speak Russian and therefore I could not speak to many persons but just by walking around one can feel that the society is positively different. The best pupils get their chance. Many of them speak English quite well for their age and they were curious and wanted to practice. Therefore I spoke mostly to pupils, students and young soldiers.

I was amazed how important culture is for the people in Artsakh. Renovating mosques despite there are still many ruins and that Armenians are Christians is awesome. Stepanakert is a small town and there is a cultural life that I did not expect.

The collection of SIM cards I used in this vacation.
The lower left one is from Karabakh Telecom.

Three days are not sufficient to get a deep insight. I don't know if one can speak free about politics, the level of corruption etc. However, this was not my goal. The goal was just to visit Armenia and relax. And for relaxing I can fully recommend Karabakh. The landscape is stunning, there is a lot of interesting history and people are helpful. For example I noted that my cell phone did not work. I learned that the mobile phone operators in Armenia are not allowed to support connection in the territory of Artsakh. They are international companies and the government of Azerbaijan and also Turkey set them under pressure that in case they support Artsakh they can no longer make business. Therefore Artsakh set up its own mobile network. The people in the mobile shop were proud of this and the guys repairing there mobile phones told me about the history of the network with all the improvised technics. When I was there in 2015 the network worked more or less in all villages but Internet was often not working. Nevertheless it was worth it to become a customer of Karabakh Telecom. The persons in its store spoke English and helped me with everything (negotiations with the hotel, opening hours of museums etc.). They had old SIM cards that need to be cut down to the smaller size of modern SIM using an improvised cutter - I liked that they try to make the best out of what they have. I think this is the right approach. In contrary, in Yerevan they had everything in the up to date mobile phone shops but the employees were complaining about everything. The price is for the Artsakh people as high as for Armenians and they get a much poorer network. Nevertheless they were happy that they have it and that it works most of the time.

All in all it was a good decision to go to Artsakh. It is nevertheless sad having all the time in mind that probably the next war is just a matter of time. Things I have seen will be in ruins, people I met will maybe fight again and die. I wish people can stop one day and live together.

One year after my visit there were new fights resulting in many deaths and destroyed houses and there are all the time skirmishes at the border zone. At least there are discussions how to get out of this.

Relief in Karabakh - Part 4 Shushi/Shusha

For this post music with a mixture of styles fits well: Imamyar Hasanov - Mugham meets Jazz
Mugam is classic Azeri music.

The final trip in Karabakh was to the town Shusha. It is located on a mountain which is easy to defend. Therefore it was settled for centuries. Its modern foundation under the name Panahabad is from 1752 as capital of the Karabakh Khanate. This Tatar (Azeri) khanate subdued the Armenian Melikdoms of Karabakh and was later annexed by the Russian empire. I spent hours to read about the amazing history of the southern Caucasus. There were so many different rulers, tribes and also religions. Like in Europe the rulers changed but the local people could develop their own language and culture.

Shusha was at first inhabited by Tatars. Later Armenians who had to leave Persia settled there too and the city was divided in an Armenian and Tatar part. The Russian resettlement politics lead to more Armenian settlers in the city so that it became one of the largest cities in the Caucasus. Eventually the population was approximately half Armenian, half Tatar. When Russia became weak before World War I the troubles started because the Armenian and the Azerbaijan independence movements tried to get Shusha. The result was a devastated city after a massacre and Stepanakert became the new main town in Karabakh.

The upper, Armenian part of the city was not rebuilt and most of its ruins were demolished in the 1960s. The Tatar part was used a Spa town. During the Nagorno-Karabakh war this was demolished by about 80%. Most of the Soviet blocks were reconstructed because people need homes. Major parts of the former city are still ruined. Walking through it is perfect to reflect what war is really about. Therefore go there if you are in the region!

Here are my impressions using this route. The start was at the fortress.

The palace of Natavan.

The building for the spring.

Some walls of the fortress have already been rebuilt.

Opposite of the fortress is the new art museum.

The main plaza has already been reconstructed...

... while the streets around it were under renovation.

One of the houses used as spa during soviet times.

In the Adamyan street.

But they already partly rebuilt the lower mosque. It was closed.

View from the lower mosque.

The mosques' yard.

Also the upper mosque was rebuilt.

It was open.

Also the outer walls of its madrasa were rebuild.

As I wrote in my last post, I was positively perplexed that they invest in the reconstruction of mosques. There are still so many ruins, there are lack of living houses. The roads and schools need to be repaired etc. But they take care of culture despite it is not theirs and that the mosques won't be used by them. Big respect!!!

Not a nice place to live but they told me that this road
will be the next to be refurbished.

One of the few fully renovated old houses.
 

The history museum is in my opinion a must see to
understand why the town looks like it does.

Inside the museum.
 

A toilet stone in the yard of the museum.

View from the museum.

View in the gorge at the eastern side of the town.

 

View down to Stepanakert. This makes clear why
Stepanakert could easily be shelled during the war.

View over the lower, Tatar part of the former city.
 

The perfectly renovated Ghazanchetsots cathedral.

Front view with the bell tower.

Inside.

View through the bell tower.

The upper part of the town around the cathedral is unspectacular.

Some buildings are tenant despite some parts can still not be used.

A larger complex, maybe this location.

Relief in Karabakh - Part 3 Tigranakert, Shahbulag and Askeran

Classic sites deserve a classic song: Leftfield - Melt

In the main bus station in Stepanakert were images of touristic sites. I saw a castle named Tigranakert and asked how to go there. All the time the taxi drivers wanted to drive me but now they were calm. I had to negotiate with the help of a policemen to go there. The taxis in Artsakh have taximeters and there is usually nothing to negotiate. It took a while until I understood.

At first one drives to the east. The road passes the renewed airport that cannot be opened because Azerbaijan threatened to shoot down aircrafts that try to start and land and countries like Turkey threaten to close the airspace for Armenian aircrafts if the airport is opened.

Artsakh is a small country. There are only about 15 km from Stepanakert to the frontier of the former Nagorno-Karabakh autonomous oblast behind the town Askeran. This also a natural frontier and therefore the Karabakh Khanate built there a fortress in form of a wall that blocks the valley.

The main road crossed the main castle complex.

It was a massive castle.

From this part one can the remaining parts of the other side.

 View over the valley.

Of course I could not resist and drove to the other (south-eastern) side. it was hard to find a way even for the taxi driver. It seems that there are no tourists willing to see this. There were also no information plates or any touristic infrastructure.

View from the south-eastern end of the castle.

Until now the taxi driver was relaxed and waited patiently but then he got nervous. When we left Askeran he stopped and told me that I should sit cowered because we will pass the frontier zone and it is very dangerous there. Then he accelerated and hurtled over the street with potholes in full speed. Interestingly this was a more comfortable driving that hitting the ground with low speed at every second pothole. Nevertheless I was frightened. We passed many soldiers and bunkers and now I understood why the taxi drivers were reserved to drive there. All the time there are skirmishes and soldiers die at the front line.

Therefore I cannot understand the tourists who like to visit the ghost town Ağdam! War is not a happening. It is crazy that people are not able to find peace after about 30 years of killing each other even in Soviet times. Ağdam is a symbol for that - a very sad place (and still full of mines). Here are some images how it looked before the war.

Tigranakert is only 5 km away from the frontier line. It was a major city of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. Today it is an unspectacular archeological site because scientific the excavation started first in 2005 and before the war the Azerbaijan SSR had not much interest in researching Armenian history and some parts that have been found were transported away.

One of the new excavations.

The city of Tigranakert was located here on the hillside above the castle.

The castle I have seen in the bus station was in fact not Tigranakert but the Shahbulag castle right besides the excavations. It was built by the Karabakh Khanate like the Askeran fortress. It was used at outer checkpoint to protect the capital Shushi. After the war the Artsakhs renovated it. This is something that impressed me a lot. I mean after the war most people had no home. Many were displaced and had to start from scratch. I expected them to be angry about the Azeris. But this was not the case. Those who I could speak with were angry that they don't stop fighting but they respect them and their culture. They spend money to rebuild any kind of culture, no matter if it is Azeri or Armenian. And this despite there are still ruins all over Artsakh. It seems that culture is very important for them and is something that must be protected. Later in Shushi I was positively perplexed by this even more.

Perfectly renovated

and definitely worth to be visited.

From this point it looks like a toy castle.

Front side towards the valley.

Below the castle they built a nice place with a spring.
In summer there are even music events.

The renovation and excavations were sponsored by organizations like this one.

View towards the front line. it is behind the ruins.

Also most of the houses up the hill are ruins. However there are still people living there like the man from the museum.

Inside the castle there is a small museum but when we arrived there was nobody. The door of the castle was open so that we could enter. The taxi driver was nervous and checked his watch all the time to stay not unnecessarily long. When we went back to our car an old men came down from the few rebuilt houses and was disappointed that we wanted to leave. He lives there as a shepherd and also as museum guard. The driver convinced me to drive home skipping the museum. He drove back in the same crazy style and when we left the frontier zone he wiped off his sweat from the forehead. Later people were astounded by this, even the soldiers because that time it was calm and the snipers cannot reach the road. A problem is when tourists like to leave the road. But the driver had to fight in the past and made his experiences with war.

Relief in Karabakh - Part 2 Gandzasar

The officer in the ministry of foreign affairs strongly recommended to drive to Vank to see something of the country. There is a bus from Stepanakert directly to Vank. It was a bit underpowered with the nice side effect that the ride took quite long. The bus also did not take the direct route so that one could see some of the small country.

To enjoy the following images I recommend to listen to Thievery Corporation - So Com Voce.

It was a pleasure to see that in the villages I have seen the government is investing money to build and renovate schools, roads etc.
My experience is that one can quickly estimate if a country has a proper government or not by traveling through the villages. In many countries with a strong ruler the capital and the big cities looks nice but there is almost no invest in the countryside. In democratic but corrupt governments often also the big cities look not well. As I stated in previous posts I was very disappointed about the Armenian government. Therefore I was surprised to see that Artsakh demonstrates how it could be in Armenia. Yes, Artsakh benefits from money from Armenians abroad and from their copper and gold mines. But in my opinion every country has resources, the question is how they are invested. Either they vanish by corruption, are used to build senseless palaces and punctual infrastructure or they are invested all over the country, most importantly in education.

The village of Vank might be an exceptional village because a rich businessman sponsored a lot. He built a hotel in form of a ship and also sponsored the school building.

The hotel built by the businessman in Vank. I ate there and the employees
told me that it is hard for them because there are not enough tourists.
They expected much more because of the Gandzasar monastery

The painted roofs are from renovated buildings.

    

The school.

The school even has a swimming pool.

An interesting idea for a fence.

The monastery high above Vank.

The main attraction is the Gandzasar monastery above the village. I can recommend to walk up there to enjoy the beautiful landscape.

There was an attempt to built a tourism center in the valley.
The work was stopped in 2015 when I was there.
 

There is a street up the hill and also a footway. I took the street and then the path through the cemetery. I haven't seen such a cemetery on a steep hillside in the height far from the living houses.

Fro the top the cemetery looks less spectacular.

The monastery complex.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. It is the seat of the bishop of Artsakh.

The living houses of the monks.

Entrance of the cathedral. As usual in Armenian churches,
it is dark inside. Therefore...

I gave up after several attempts to get nice pictures from the interior.
 

The cathedral from another perspective.

I noticed the special carving and indeed it is something special.