CauKazEthnoexp. IX. Nagorno-KarabakhMap
July The Armenians won Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan, but were plunged into poverty as a result—and it turned out that they don’t have much use for it in the end. The territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (its official name) is shown on all political maps as being part of Azerbaijan, although there isn’t a single Azerbaijani here. You can enter the region only through Armenia; the entire infrastructure, the police force, currency, and everything else is all Armenian. The war ended long ago (there are occasional exchanges of fire only at the border of Karabakh and Azerbaijan), but a feeling of disquiet remains. As if things haven’t cooled down yet.  A hand-built Karabakh design.  A mining excavator the height of four Coucousiques.  Although Nagorno-Karabakh is, in essence, just a region of Armenia, it has its own unique features. For example, all utility poles have horizontal bars welded to them—electricians use them to climb up to the power lines.  ShushiMap
Once a blooming city; today, a post-war rural town.  A local woman.  An anti-aircraft defense base.  A community cultural center.  A half-destroyed mosque.  A typical Shushi bus stop. Buses stopped running here a long time ago, but the bus stops survived the war and are still holding out hope for something.  A Shushi trash can.  A Karabakh Telecom payphone.  StepanakertMapThe capital.  The city has been rebuilt—even the Sphinx has a new cement nose.  Trash cans in the capital.  A traffic light.  USSR Taxi. Someone is having a bout of nostalgia.  You can understand the most about a city by looking at the flyers that are posted. 
Photo 1: Items for sale: chifanier, linen closet, kitchen table — white, kitchen chairs, cupboards, china cabineds, bookcases, beds, Carina oven, coat rack, Podolsk non-electric sewing machine, wall and tabletop clocks, curtain rods, chandelier, sinks, gardening tools, dinnerware, jars of all types, large aluminum basin for cooking doshab, black floorboards, pole with roller for laundry. Items for sale: piano, sofa, bookcases, table, chairs, kitchen cupboard, beds, chifanier, china cabenet, Yantar striking wall clock, polished folding table, Podolsk non-electric sewing machine, vintelator, china, jars of all types, pole with roller for laundry, books. For sale: two-bedroom apt. (Leningrad-type floor plan), 3rd floor at 12 A. Manukyan St. Price negotiable. For sale: three-bedroom apartment with all amenities, 2nd floor of We spent an annoying hour and a half at the Ministry of Culture in Stepanakert trying to get a document which would allow us to visit various parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and leave via a different road. Our time ended up being wasted in vain, we didn’t get our papers and went on our own, throwing formalities to the wind. AgdamMap
It’s interesting how those who decide to go to Nagorno-Karabakh automatically incur the wrath of Azerbaijan.  It’s also interesting that it was two bottles of a port wine called Agdam that got me drunk for the first time in my life.  Alas, the city of Agdam no longer exists.  It was wiped out by the war.  All the structures were destroyed, down to the doghouses.  Only the cemetery and the mosque remain intact.  From the minaret, you can get a good view of what used to be Agdam.  This is the only ghost city in the world which isn’t terrifying to look at (see the reports from Pripyat, Pyramiden and Bechevinka).  The remnants of the buildings are like whale bones in the ocean—just white remains.  Every house has been bombed out.  Every house has been burned down.  Every house has been washed clean by many years of rain.  Just white bones.  Just sitting there under the open sky. 
Nobody just has the courage to mark the map:  |
