“Churches, factories, abandoned cars”: what will Azerbaijan receive after the surrender of Karabakh

Stepanakert is an old and beautiful city, although small – you can get around the main areas in a couple of hours. After the capitulation of Nagorno-Karabakh, the city comes under the control of the Azerbaijani government, and tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians have been trying to leave the republic for several days. We found out which enterprises and real estate fund came under the control of Azerbaijan.

The strong and beautiful buildings of the once prosperous and even prosperous Stepanakert, which, like Yerevan, was designed by the famous Alexander Tamanyan, did not save local residents from the hardships of the last blockade year. Although the republic also had its own industrial potential.

In the north of Stepanakert there is a large industrial zone, in which there are many factories and manufacturing enterprises that once provided the life of the city. Grain products plant, Stepanakert air conditioning plant, metal structures plant, shoe factory, pipe plant, tobacco station…

Among the enterprises, there are those that have been abandoned since the beginning of the 2000s, but most stopped working only at the end of last year, when the Lachin corridor was blocked by so-called environmental activists. Raw materials stopped flowing, factories were put on mothballing. And residents lost not only shoes and clothing at the local market, but also the most important thing – medicines and food.

Local delivery workers are facing travel problems due to a huge fuel shortage. And if in the photographs of previous years the market stalls were filled to the brim with vegetables and fruits, then at the end of 2022 the situation changed: a crowd of buyers instantly appeared around the rare seller with food, wanting to buy at least something.

The famous Karabakh flatbreads, fruits, vegetables, herbs and greens disappeared from the markets. The store shelves were empty, and bread was given out using coupons – half a loaf per person. A real food crisis, as well as a fuel and energy crisis, has set in in Karabakh – the townspeople had to forget about constant light and water.

After the war of the 90s, many buildings in Stepanakert were rebuilt – some were completed, others were not enough building materials, and they still stand as concrete skeletons. Rural residents who were engaged in agriculture and farming did not lag behind the townspeople of Artsakh.

Many grew vegetables and fruits on their plots, and many villages had wine factories. The city’s housing stock is the usual five-story “Khrushchev” buildings, just like in the residential area of ​​any provincial Russian town, but with a lot of local flavor – for example, posters in Armenian on the ends.

The official buildings in the center stand out against the background of these houses in Stepanakert. Hotel “Armenia” is perhaps one of the most modern buildings in the city, built in 2007, facing the main square of the city – Renaissance Square.

Almost all government structures are compactly located on a small plot of land, from the four-story presidential palace to numerous ministries and cultural institutions. Now some establishments are facing abolition, while others will change their signs, flags and symbols to Azerbaijani ones.

On the same square there is the building of the Artsakh Bank, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, and the State Drama Theater. There is also a relatively new and large medical center in the city, inaugurated in 2013 and equipped, at that time, with advanced medical equipment.

In general, there are quite a lot of medical institutions in the city. There is, for example, an oncology center or a children’s dental clinic. In addition, the city has many libraries, museums and cultural centers. There are also many temples and churches. For example, the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God, opened in 2019, was built both from private donations and at the expense of the Armenian Church. We cannot forget about the symbol of the city – the ancient monument “We and Our Mountains,” created in honor of the centenarians.

Some monuments in Karabakh were dismantled this week. For example, in the city of Martuni, a monument to the Armenian commander Monte Melkonyan was removed using a crane, but it is unknown what was done with it next. There was also news that residents of cities, and especially villages in the republic, are destroying abandoned property as best they can.

Last weekend, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense even reported that Armenians had carried out a mass burning of residential buildings in Agder in the Karabakh region.

“It’s difficult to say what will happen to the city next,” local resident Lev Melkumyan told MK. – There is no light, no communications. There are a huge number of abandoned cars on the streets. They are in good condition, running, but there is no fuel, so they were left. Even foreign cars are abandoned. They destroy something, burn things in garbage containers, create chaos in apartments, break equipment that they cannot take out – televisions, refrigerators. Crowds of stray animals wander through the garbage dumps, looking for food, but not finding it. They can attack a person. It’s very scary here now.

– What will happen to those who live in villages and decide to stay?

“In some ways it will be easier for them than for the townspeople; they can rely on their garden and make supplies. But how to survive the winter is the question. And in the villages there are many old people who would rather die than leave their home. And they won’t be able to leave now, they won’t survive.