Institute for War and Peace Reporting IWPR, UK
June 5 2007
Azerbaijan: Farming in No-Man’s Land
Farmers risk being shot at and blown up by mines tending to their
flocks and fields.
By Idrik Abbasov in Bala Jafarli (CRS No. 399, 5-July-07)
The teenage shepherd stopped abruptly when the Azerbaijani army
officer shouted over at him.
"How shameless you are! How many times must I tell you not to graze
your sheep in this damned place? They will shoot you and kill you,
and I will be held responsible," yelled the lieutenant.
This correspondent saw this exchange with his own eyes in March when
visiting the frontline between Azeri and Armenian troops. The
shepherd’s attempt to take his 30 sheep across the trenches to the
pastures in no-man’s land was proof of just how desperate life is for
farmers who have lost their livelihoods from a war that supposedly
ended 13 years ago.
The shepherd came from the village of Bala Jafarli, home to some 20
families and situated in the Qazakh region of Azerbaijan, 500
kilometres from Baku and where the borders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and
Georgia meet. It lies on a highway that once led to Armenia’s Ijevan
region, but is now surrounded by Armenian forces on three sides.
The fourth side of the village is marked by the dried-up Davdagh
lake, which has vanished since the Armenians blocked the channel that
supplied it. The next Azerbaijani settlement of Boyuk Jafarli is
situated six km away on the far shore of the lake. A special pass is
necessary to visit Bala Jafarli, and the narrow corridor leading to
it is open only for the military, residents of the village and
occasional visitors like this correspondent.
Bala Jafarli and Boyuk Jafarli are surrounded by six Azerbaijani
villages that are occupied by Armenian forces. Bala Jafarli and Boyuk
Jafarli are just several hundred metres from Armenian positions.
An Azerbaijani trench runs next to the last house in Bala Jafarli.
The wall facing the Armenian positions is riddled with bullets. The
roof, windows and doors on the second floor have been shattered.
Despite this, the Gasymov family still lives there.
The owner of the house, Tamila Gasymova, 46, wept as she talked to
this correspondent. The shepherd who tried to cross the lines, it
transpired, was one of her relatives.
"The Armenians are shooting all the time and we have no space to
graze the flock, as our soldiers do not allow us to cross the
trenches," said Gasymova.
The lieutenant, who refused to disclose his name, told IWPR that
there are special rules of behaviour on the frontline and, according
to these rules, you cannot stand in an open area opposite the enemy’s
positions.
"There is no shooting now and you are walking around quite boldly.
However, when shooting starts, you will start looking for a mouse
hole to hide in," said the officer.
"If the Armenians kill a shepherd or he is blown up by a mine or,
what is even worse, the Armenians who watch him find out which areas
are not mined, approach our positions and capture one of our
soldiers, my head will roll," said the lieutenant.
In Boyuk Jafarli, the neighbouring village, more pastures and
agricultural land are accessible. But they are still overlooked by
Armenian positions.
"If we did not breed cattle and sow potatoes and onions, we would die
of hunger. It is better to die of a bullet than to starve to death,"
said Firudin Mustafayev, a 65-year-old resident.
"The Armenians shoot from time to time and our soldiers respond too.
Sometimes, when we work in the field, bullets whistle over our heads
and we have to lie on the damp ground for hours. We continue to work
when everything is calm again.’
Although a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan was declared on
May 12, 1994, people have continued to die in both villages from
random shooting. Konul Rahimova, 21, was the last victim. An Armenian
sniper killed her in the summer of 2006 when she was working in the
fields.
On top of all this, the villages lack irrigation water. The Armenians
blocked the channel that used to run into the Davdagh artificial
lake, which is now filled only when snow melts in the mountains and
that only lasts for a month.
The regional administration has raised the water problem with
officials, and it has been discussed at levels as high as the group
of international mediators that was assembled in Minsk in 1992 to try
to end the conflict. The group is co-chaired by France, Russia and
the United States.
`Even representatives of the Minsk group have intervened to resolve
this problem and inspected the area. However, nothing can be done
about this. We are in the middle of a war with Armeni,’ said Tahir
Mustafayev, assistant head of the local administration.
Armenia and Azerbaijan swap accusations of breaking the ceasefire.
Any firing tends to provoke shooting in response, and can lead to
serious injury or death. Ilgar Verdiyev, a spokesman for the
Azerbaijan defence ministry, denied that Azeri forces violate the
truce.
`However, when the enemy opens fire on our positions, we respond, and
we will always respond. We will be first to open fire if the
commander-in-chief orders us to liberate our occupied land and we
will clear our territory of Armenian military forces,’ he said.
Despite the constant fears of death, people continue to live in these
villages.
"When we are in the field or pasture and Armenians start shooting in
our direction, our soldiers too respond, and then the peasants have
to stop sowing, leave their cattle and press themselves to the ground
to avoid coming under fire," said Vahida Ismailova, 60.
Idrak Abbasov is correspondent of the Zerkalo newspaper in Baku and
participant in the Cross Caucasus Journalism Network project funded
by the European Union.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress