Spotlight Artsakh

The families forcibly displaced from Artsakh will long remember the lack of bread during the months of blockade. That bread, often moist and bitter, has become a symbol of their struggles, deprivation, courage and strength. Photojournalist Ani Gevorgyan captures the images and feelings.

“The story of the house began with a smile and ended with tears,” writes Yan Shenkman, a Russian journalist, who moved to Armenia after the war in Ukraine started. He compiled monologues from the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh for an upcoming exhibition about the homes they lost.

During the ten-month blockade of Artsakh, hundreds of pregnant women endured fear and deprivation instead of experiencing the joy of approaching motherhood. Photojournalist Ani Gevorgyan chronicles their challenges.

In September, two families-in-law from Artsakh found refuge in the village of Yeghvard, Armenia, joining over 100,000 displaced Armenians facing similar challenges. Marut Vanyan, a journalist from Artsakh, provides insight into their experiences.

Irina Merdinyan traveled into the heart of a tragedy to help the forcibly displaced Armenians of Artsakh. In the midst of that experience, she was confronted with pain, confusion, anger and fleeting moments of joy.

Several hundred forcibly displaced people from Artsakh have found refuge in the Armenian village of Ranchpar. As they struggle to make sense of their loss and create a new life, they hang on to the hope that, like the storks of the village who return each year, they too will one day return to their native Artsakh.

With women and girls making up over half of the displaced people from Artsakh, what kinds of health and safety risks are they facing, and who is there to help?

Specialists from the Ministry of Internal Affairs are working to alleviate the anxiety of the forcibly displaced children from Artsakh by offering psychological first aid. Their journey is captured in this photo story by Ani Gevorgyan.

As the ethnically cleansed Armenians of Artsakh streamed into Goris, they were met with hundreds of volunteers, among them diasporan Armenians, many of whom now feel a deeper connection and a stronger sense of purpose.

As the forcibly displaced Armenians of Artsakh struggle to comprehend the magnitude of their loss, memories of the homes and lives they were forced to leave behind suffocate them. Theirs is a story of being ripped from their roots, of pain and dispossession.