For decades, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been embroiled in a dispute over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. The 2020 ceasefire is fragile and civilians are bracing for further escalation of violence.
Gohar wore a special camouflage jacket for this training. It was Friday night, around 8 p.m., at a gym on the outskirts of the Armenian capital Yerevan. The place has seen better days. The 27-year-old did some push-ups and squats. A weapon lesson is coming.
“The situation in our country is so unstable that every Armenian man and woman must know how to use a gun,” she said, “in case something goes wrong,” she said.
Gohar refers to the fragile ceasefire between Armenia and its neighbour, Azerbaijan. The most recent war, in the fall of 2020, lasted six weeks and claimed the lives of more than 7,000 people. Six times a week, Gohar participates in a three-hour paramilitary training course organized by the NGO VoMA. She also works as a dentist and is the mother of a one-year-old son.
“It’s important that all of us, including civilians, be prepared,” she said.
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25 participants showed up for tonight’s training session. More than half of them are women. In one corner of the gymnasium, participants simulated climbing activities, in another corner, they practiced first aid for wounded soldiers. Model Kalashnikovs can be seen next to the first aid box.
VoMA alone has trained between 5,000 and 6,000 volunteers funded by donations, including Armenians living abroad. Apparently, the demand for paramilitary training has increased dramatically since the last war
Last September, other villages situated along the border saw attacks as well, with both sides exchanging blame. The Russian peace troops deployed to monitor compliance with the 2020 ceasefire agreement were either unable or unwilling to halt the escalation.
Many Armenians feel let down by Russia as their former protector. “The war in Ukraine affects us Armenians, as well. It has produced a vacuum of power in the southern Caucasus,” says Tigran Grigoryan, president of the Yerevan-based Regional Centre for Democracy and Security think tank. Now, whenever Azerbaijan breached agreements, Moscow no longer intervened as it would have before, Grigoryan added.
Reports like these motivate Gohar to continue taking part in paramilitary exercises in Yerevan. She has already completed the first half of the three-month training course.
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