How I travelled to Nagorno Karabkh
A country that does not exist in Armenia
After the dissolution of the USSR, Azerbaijan claimed this territory called «Nagorno Karabakh»; «Karabakh»; or «Artsakh»(old name of the region). However, since its people feel Armenian (being a region, historically inhabited by Armenians) and not Azeri, its «independence» was proclaimed, basically so that there are no problems between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Why do I say that it is a «country that does not exist»? The thing is that it is only recognized by Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria, meaning that at the «international level», it is not recognized by UN countries. There was a war between 1991 and 1994, although the conflict reignited in 2016 on the Karabakh-Azerbaijan border and more than 250 people, including civilians, were killed. Today Armenia has closed its borders in both Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Argentinians are on a «privileged list», so we don’t need a visa to enter the «country», maybe because Argentina was one of the first countries to recognize the Armenian genocide. They also do not stamp your passport, because then if you want to go to Azerbaijan, you would not be eligible to enter because of having been in Nagorno. Karabakh
The majority of those who visit this place are descendants of Armenians from the Diaspora, more specifically from the USA, Canada, France, Russia, although there are also those from Latin America. So I felt like I was part of the movie «My Great Greek Wedding», but Armenian. The Armenians have a very good relationship with Greeks and many traditions are shared such us dances and meals. The most interesting thing for me was being able to see the remnants of the war, which ended just over 20 years ago. So it is common to see abandoned military tanks or a kind of «ropes» or «wires» hanging from one top of the mountain to the other, used to shoot down Azeri planes, as they flew at a low altitude.
