Players from Nagorno-Karabakh (right) during a past ConIFA tournament (conifa.org)
The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA) announced on 19 August that Nagorno-Karabakh would host its 2019 European Football Cup. It promised to specify soon the exact June dates and other details of the tournament, which will be held in capital Stepanakert.
Vachagan’s notes from the 2016 war (Anahit Danielyan /OC Media)
Two years on from the April 2016 war, which caused the deaths of hundreds and a loss of territory, Nagorno-Karabakh’s youth are more determined than ever to stay in their homeland and build a future there. Galvanised by their recent experience of war, young men living close to the frontline talk of what the April events meant for them and how they remain ever vigilant of another outbreak of fighting.
From left to right: Kamo Aghajanyan, Arayik Harutyunyan, Arshavir Gharamyan
Nagorno-Karabakh’s state minister, director and deputy director of the National Security Service, and chief of police have resigned, in the wake of protests in the capital Stepanakert over the weekend. Protests were triggered by reports that police stood by as members of the security services beat up two civilians. [Read more…]
(Artsakh Press)
Protests erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh’s capital Stepanakert over the weekend after two men were allegedly beaten up by a group of members of the National Security Service. Protesters were initially demanding the alleged attackers be prosecuted, but these demands have now extended to the dismissals of the heads of all law enforcement and security agencies, excluding the Defence Army. [Read more…]
Asya Khachatryan (Epress)
An Armenian citizen has claimed that police in Stepanakert ‘psychologically and physically abused’ her during multiple ‘illegal detentions’ in Stepanakert, allegedly because she smoked and because of the way she looked. [Read more…]
A poster in central Stepanakert (Khachig Joukhajian /OC Media)
Aleksey S. Antimonov is a freelance journalist based in Armenia.
With its flat rate taxes and sky-high growth rates, Nagorno-Karabakh has been described by some as a Caucasian Tiger. In addition, money from abroad funds a generous, but militaristic social welfare system — combining to keep and grow its border villages, and swell the army’s ranks.
