Nagorno-Karabagh Elections, June 17-21, 2005
Party campaign posters in Shushi in Nagorno-Karabagh.
From June 15 to 22 Dan Shartin (Philosophy) and I traveled to the disputed territory Nagorno-Karabagh in the south Caucasus to serve as informal election observers. We joined two members of the San Francisco-based NGO (Chris Michael and Tom Miller), Global Exchange, to meet with government officials, leaders of the political parties, NGOs, and ordinary citizens in an effort to better understand the political circumstances in this complex region of the world.
We were initially contacted about this project through our participation in Worcester State ’s Center for the Study of Human Rights. Henry Theriault, the Center's director and professor in the Philosophy Department, had been approached by Armenian-American organizations about the possibility of sending representatives of the Center to observe Nagorno-Karabagh’s elections.
Nagorno-Karabagh has historical and ethnic ties to Armenia , but during the Soviet era it was included within the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan. Long-standing animosity between the Azerbaijani and the Armenian people made that a difficult and tenuous political arrangement. As the USSR began to weaken in the late 1980s, Karabagh Armenians declared their independence from Azerbaijan .
The immediate result was an armed struggle that lasted from 1988 until 1994 and created significant numbers of casualties and refugees for both sides. In 1994, after Karabagh Armenian forces had regained the territory of Nagorno-Karabagh and taken over the entire southwestern portion of Azerbaijan , a cease-fire was declared. The cease-fire still holds.
Although Azerbaijan still regards Nagorno-Karabagh as a region within its jurisdiction, Nagorno-Karabagh has been holding parliamentary and presidential elections since 1994 – both as an expression of self determination and to demonstrate to the world its ability to govern itself as an independent country. It was to observe the most recent round of parliamentary elections that we traveled to Karabagh. (Excerpt from MSCA Newsletter Article, Fall 2005)
View of mountain top monastary from the village Vank.
We arrived in Stepanakert, the capital, on Friday evening, June 17, and immediately met with individuals and groups representing a variety of interests. Despite their different agendas, all of them expressed the desire to resolve the ongoing disagreement with Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. In this small territory, almost everyone lost a friend or relative in the 1988-1994 conflicts. The memorials take different forms: the cemetery in Stepanakert for soldiers killed in the war; the ruins within the city of Shushi left untouched since Karabakh Armenian takeover in May 9, 1992; the ruins of entire villages speckling the countryside throughout Nagorno-Karabakh; the rusting bodies of military tanks abandoned in once-cultivated fields; the occasional sign posted to warn passersby of landmines; and the meticulously-managed memorials to soldiers that exist in nearly every village – no matter how poor it is.
The beautifully maintained war memorial in the village Kichan.
Ruins of a large village between Kichan and Martakert.
The scars of war in the city Shushi.
For election day on June 19, 2005, I requested to visit the northern region because it comprised mostly villages, with Martakert being the only urban center. Although some of the more egregious violations to elections protocol were reported in the cities, we had also heard that violations were witnessed in the villages. Witnesses alleged political candidates and parties were virtually buying votes in villages either through offering cash, free fuel, funding for road reparation, and even funding toward renovating war memorials. Yet in our visits to eight different villages, we were impressed with how professionally the committees organized and ran their local elections.
Administration building in the village Tsmakahogh.
The banner on the building calls people to vote on June 19.