Listen to members of Women In Black Armenia, Sona Hovakimyan and Arpi Balyan, who share their opinions and thoughts about the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war which began on September 27, 2020, and lasted 44 days. The war ended after three failed cease-fires on November 9, 2020, when Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia have signed an agreement to end the military conflict.

This recording is the first of our Women in Black series, a powerful collection of testimonies from Women peace activists from across the globe.

Transcription:

Dear Sisters,

Nowadays it is hard to speak about how we live today and how we feel about the situation in our country, but we will try to sum up, and share some insights, what we do, what has been done during these days. Our speech may be sound too emotional. But this is a kind of resistance voice against expansionism colonialism and brutal war.

Let's start with the brief introduction of Women in Black Armenia initiative.  The vision of Women in Black, Armenia peacebuilding initiative is to have a society where law and human rights prevail, conflicts are regulated in a peaceful manner, women are actively involved in peacebuilding and decision-making process in all levels, and there is no space for violence. 

Thus, the mission of the group is to promote the ideology of peace to direct young women, to spread democratic values in the Republic, in Armenia to involve women in civic initiatives, as well as in peacebuilding projects in all levels. This year we were very excited to organize Women In Black international gatherings in Armenia, but it has been very challenging, not only during the pandemic but also during the war, we are still living in. Since September 27, and which is an imminent threat to our existence, we cannot give detailed and full information about what led to this outbreak of the conflict, but we can outline some facts and conclusions.

First of all, it is obvious that the main militaristic actions have been started by the Azerbaijani military and political authorities. With the help of Turkish expansionist government is not a subject of arguing, and it is clear that the small and economically poor country wouldn't initiate this war. Besides, this was the result of lasting hatred, aggression, miscommunication between two nations, which were led by governments, mostly by the dictatorship of Aliyev and this was a result of failed diplomacy between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

We couldn't reach for solidarity of both sides, and save stability in our region, because we will not able to see the whole picture of expansionism and colonization by Turkey and Russia, [which] plays a significant role in ongoing political processes, all anti-military and feminist future is uncertain. Now, one thing that we can do now, it is to learn lessons from our failures, and during the war. 

More than, 75,000 people have been displaced to Armenia. Most of them lost their loved ones. They lost their homes, properties. After the war, there is a huge need for assisting displaced people from Artsakh to Armenia. Since September 27 by providing them with food, shelter basic necessities. Women who can produce, as well as COVID-19 prevention measures, we are providing now humanitarian assistance to displaced families living in Yerevan, and in regions of Armenia. Besides, we have for a rapid response group consisting of members of Women In Black Armenia, which deals with the needs of families left without any support, providing them with the necessary assistance, including psychological support.

Sending love solidarity and peace.

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Learn about the worldwide Women In Black movement

Women in Black is a world-wide network of women committed to peace with justice and actively opposed to injustice, war, militarism and other forms of violence.

The Armenian Initiative of the Movement is one of the youngest branches of “Women in Black” International Movement. The Initiative was founded in Armenia in 2011 with the efforts of Society Without Violence NGO. “Women in Black, Armenia” is an anti-militarist, feminist, peace-building initiative which was founded by 11 young women from different regions of Armenia. Since 2016 the "Women Black, Armenia" PeaceBuiding Initiative started to act as an independent body and is governed by its own young members. https://womeninblackarmenia.weebly.com/

Photo by Jilbert Ebrahimi on Unsplash