After the War: Picking Up the Pieces
“There’s nothing left of my house and they allocated AZN 1,000”
Elbir Jafarov remembers that night. He says everyone claims there was a loud noise, but he heard a very low sound. Then wood, stone, earth, and concrete fell on the house:
“Parts of the house that was hit by the rocket rained down on our houses and destroyed everything. People died here, we lost close friends. In such a difficult psychological situation, we shouldn’t have to stand up and talk about compensation. It should be given unconditionally, without upsetting people. Because that’s what happened to us. What did they do? They found a need for repairs and allocated AZN 1,000. There’s nothing left of my house. Who can build a new life for themselves with AZN 1,000? Whether our life was good or bad, we had a house with all the amenities. I had just renovated it. Now they’re telling me to rebuild everything I built over 40 years but don’t spend more than AZN 1,000. That’s not fair.”
“Not a single thing in the house was left intact”
Elbir Jafarov made an approximate calculation. He says the damages to his house cost at least AZN 25,000-26,000:
“I know the government can’t pay for everything, but the President just signed a decree. He said, ‘AZN 6,000 should be paid for each house, and AZN 1,500 to each occupant of the house.’ At that rate, we should get more than AZN 10,000 in compensation. But they won’t give it to us. They came and allocated us AZN 1,000. Not a single thing in the house was left intact. The president allocated a certain amount of money, but those funds don’t reach their recipients. I’m saying this for him to see and know. He should know that our lives are over. Our lives, built on poverty and oppression, penny by penny, have been ruined.”
On September 27, 2020, heavy fighting broke out on the line of contact between the Azerbaijani and Armenian armed forces. On November 9, before the fighting had ended, Azerbaijan announced that it taken back control of about 280 villages, four settlements, and five cities.
What were the other consequences of the 44-day military operation?
On November 10, a ceasefire was announced by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia. According to the agreement, the regions of Kalbajar, Aghdam, and Lachin were returned to Azerbaijani control. Russian peacekeepers were deployed in the Lachin corridor and on the line of contact. Most of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region, which is recognized as an integral part of Azerbaijan in international documents, remained under the control of Armenia and Russian peacekeepers.
The consequences of the war — more than 6,000 casualties
Azerbaijan announced the burial of 2,841 servicemen killed in the war as of January 11. It also provided the photos, names, surnames, military ranks, and dates of birth of 64 people considered missing. To date, however, there has been no official statement on the number of people disabled in the war.
Azerbaijan has stated that during the 44-day operation, about 100 civilians were killed, about 400 were wounded, and more than 40,000 were displaced.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement on the property damage suffered by the civilian population that 4,186 homes on the Azerbaijani side were destroyed during the war. The agency also said that 135 apartment buildings and 548 civilian facilities had been rendered unfit for use.
3,360 Armenian servicemen were killed in the escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian Ministry of Health says there are still hundreds of unidentified bodies. 1,600 people are missing and 8,300 were wounded in the war.
However, it is estimated that more than 5,600 people were killed on each side in the war.
A report on the war published by Human Rights Watch states that civilian structures in Khankandi were damaged by indiscriminate rocket and land-based strikes. At present, operations have ceased, but the civilian population is still suffering from the infrastructure damage.
The report states that, by early October, more than 50,000 residents of Khankandi had fled to Goris and Yerevan.
According to the authorities of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), about 90,000 residents of Karabakh were forced to leave their homes during and after the war. Most of them lost their homes after their settlements were transferred to Azerbaijan’s control.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 52,278 Armenians have returned to Nagorno-Karabakh since November 24.
Some displaced people from Shusha, Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, and Khojavand have taken refuge in the homes of their relatives and acquaintances in the territory of the unrecognized NKR and in Armenia proper, and others are living in hotels, schools, and kindergartens. For example, all the hotels in Goris, the Armenian city closest to Karabakh, are now full of displaced persons.
What has the Azerbaijani government done to mitigate the effects of the war?
Azerbaijan is paying AZN 11,000 (USD 6,475) to the family of each soldier killed in the war. In addition, President Ilham Aliyev signed an order on additional measures to compensate damages incurred by the civilian population during the war.
According to the order, each family is to be paid AZN 6,000 (USD 3,532) for damage to household items in a destroyed or damaged home, and AZN 1,500 (USD 883) per family member for damage to personal belongings. For homes which sustained other damage, each family will be paid AZN 1,000 (AZN 589). This assistance, however, seems not to have reached its recipients.
In addition, Azerbaijan has allocated AZN 2.2 billion (USD 1.3 billion) from the 2021 state budget for the reconstruction of the territories again under its control.
At the end of 2020, AZN 50 million (USD 29.5 million) was allocated for the design and construction of a road from Fuzuli to Shusha (the Ahmadbayli-Fuzuli-Shusha highway).
Mitigation of the effects of the war in Armenia
The Armenian government has called the flight of refugees from territories transferred to Azerbaijani control a humanitarian catastrophe. It paid a lump sum of AMD 300,000 (USD 600) to each displaced person. It was announced that utilities would be free starting January 1 for Armenians living in Karabakh.
The Armenian government is also assisting displaced persons from Karabakh to find housing. Each displaced person will receive AMD 68,000 (about USD 140) per month. Those who do not own real estate in Armenia receive an additional AMD 15,000 (about USD 30).
Meanwhile, the Armenian government has developed a second state support program for displaced persons. The program will provide AMD 250,000 (USD 500) or AMD 300,000 (USD 600) to residents who lost their homes in the fighting or whose homes were in the territories handed over to Azerbaijan.
The Armenian government plans to pay USD 10,000 to the families of servicemen killed in the fighting. In addition, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that there are state programs in the works to support servicemen wounded in the fighting. The program provides treatment for those who need it, the purchase of prosthetics, etc.
The governments announced that they were carrying out aid campaigns to eliminate the aftereffects of the war and to improve the conditions of the affected population. Clearly these measures could not comprehensively help people whose lives had changed completely since the war.
This article was produced as part of Meydan TV’s project “After the War.”