REPORTAGE:

AZERBAIJAN: LIFE ON THE FRONTLINES
7/26/07 Text by Rovshan Ismayilov. Photos by Rena Effendi

Thirteen years after the cease-fire agreement that brought an end to fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh, villagers still living along the Azerbaijani frontline remain trapped in a state of neither peace nor war.

But still, their inhabitants stay on. "It is very difficult to live here. No money, no good prospects. But we are keen to stay in the village," said Yashar Ahmedov, a farmer who lives in Mirashalli village on the frontlines in Agdam region, an area mostly controlled by the Armenian army. "If we leave this place then everyone else will go, too. We don’t want to give up our lands."

Full Text & Photos: CIVIL SOCIETY

Editor’s Note: Rovshan Ismayilov is a freelance journalist based in Baku. Rena Effendi is a freelance photojournalist also based in Baku.