‘We went straight to the border’: AP documents Armenians burning their homes in conflict zone
By Mstyslav Chernov and Dmitri Lovetsky
For more than a month, video journalist Mstyslav Chernov and photographer Dmitri Lovetsky tirelessly documented the toll of fierce fighting over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Their powerful images and reporting including military operations, hospitals packed with wounded patients and those sick with COVID-19, and shelled cities and towns.
On November 7,as Azerbaijani forces closed in on the key strategic town of Shusha,the AP pair finally left the disputed region and headed for the relative safety of the Armenian capital,Yerevan,with plans to leave the region after their long deployment. That plan quickly changed as Azerbaijani forces continued their advance and Armenia signed a Russian-brokered agreement ceding the territory to Azerbaijan. As thousands of ethnic Armenians began fleeing the region,Chernov,based in Germany,and Lovetsky,based in Russia,canceled their flights and waded back into the story, documenting the column of desperate people abandoning their homeland.
In subsequent days the pair would capture images that showed the world the situation had grown even more dire.
People confront police in Freedom Square in Yerevan, Armenia, Nov. 11, 2020, during a protest against territorial concessions and deployment of Russian peacekeepers in an agreement with Azerbaijan to halt fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Demonstrators carry an Armenian national flag inside Armenia’s parliamentary building during protests against an agreement to halt fighting with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, in Yerevan, Armenia, Nov. 10, 2020. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
People protest in front of the government building in Yerevan, Armenia, Nov. 10, 2020, denouncing an agreement to halt fighting with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Facebook that calling an end to the fight was “extremely painful for me personally and for our people.” Thousands of people streamed to the main square Yerevan to protest the agreement, some breaking into the government building, saying they were searching for Pashinian, who apparently had already departed. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Returning to Yerevan,Chernov and Lovetsky found angry protests sweeping the city with demonstrators breaking into government buildings. Again they shelved their departure plans and spent two nights in the midst of the protests,providing remarkable coverage. At the same time,thanks to excellent contacts built up during their stay and collaboration with Moscow producer Tanya Titova,they heard reports of Armenians setting fire to their own homes in the Kalbajar region to stop their properties from falling into the hands of the Azerbaijanis.
Chernov said: “I already had my flight planned for next day,but when I heard this rumor,I understood immediately this will be a very important story. So,I postponed my flight, got a car and after another protest in Yerevan we went straight to the border between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“I understood immediately this will be a very important story. … After another protest in Yerevan we went straight to the border between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.”
— AP video journalist Mstyslav Chernov
In addition to the four-hour drive,the pair faced challenging conditions just getting to the region. They had to cross the closed border before encountering local soldiers who were nervous and angry, blaming the press for losing the war.
Smoke rises from a burning house as cars and trucks sit in a massive traffic jam on the road from Kalbajar leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020, one day before the territory was to be turned over to Azerbaijan as part of an agreement to end six weeks of intense fighting with Armenian forces. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Garo Dadevusyan, right, has a last dinner with his relatives inside his empty house in Kalbajar before leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020. Dadevusyan was prepared to burn his house before the village was turned over to Azerbaijan. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Garo Dadevusyan, right, pulls the metal roof from his home in Kalbajar as he prepares to set it ablaze before leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Sirarpi Safaryan, a relative of Garo Dadevusyan, sits near her house in Kalbajar before leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020. The territory was to be handed over to Azerbaijani control the following day. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Smoke rises from a burning house in an area once occupied by Armenian forces but soon to be turned over to Azerbaijan, in Karvachar, in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nov. 13, 2020. Under an agreement ending weeks of intense fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, some Armenian-held territories adjacent to the region were passing to Azerbaijan. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Russian military vehicles roll along a road toward the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nov. 13, 2020. Dozens of Russian peacekeepers destined for Nagorno-Karabakh began deploying hours after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to halt fighting over the separatist region. – AP Photo / Sergei Grits
Cars and trucks sit in a massive traffic jam climbing to a mountain pass along the road from Kalbajar, leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Smoke rises from a burning house in an area once occupied by Armenian forces but soon to be turned over to Azerbaijan, in Karvachar, in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nov. 13, 2020. Ethnic Armenian residents were abandoning and burning their homes as the area was coming under Azerbaijani control. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Smoke rises from burning homes as ethnic Armenians abandon the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020, one day before the territory was to be turned over to Azerbaijan. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
A man holds an icon from the Dadivank, an Armenian Apostolic Church monastery dating to the 9th century, as ethnic Armenians abandon the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Relatives of Mkhitar Beglarian, an ethnic Armenian soldier of Nagorno-Karabakh, mourn during his funeral at a cemetery in Stepanakert, capital of the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nov. 15, 2020. – AP Photo / Sergei Grits
Ethnic Armenians in Kalbajar, in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, carry a coffin with the body of their relative, Sergei Gabrilyan, exhumed from a grave for repatriation to Armenia, Nov. 16, 2020. Ethnic Armenians who are leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh disinter the remains because the territory is to be handed over to Azerbaijan. – AP Photo / Sergei Grits
Ethnic Armenians look from a bus in Yerevan, Armenia, returning to Stepanakert, capital of the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nov. 16, 2020. – AP Photo / Dmitri Lovetsky
Ethnic Armenian refugees stand among their belongings as they return to Stepanakert, the capital of the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Russia’s Defense Ministry reported that peacekeepers accompanied about 1,200 people returning to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia in recent days. – AP Photo / Sergei Grits
Nikolai Karapetyan presses a cross to his chest, with his car packed as he prepares to abandon his home in the village of Maraga, in the Martakert area of the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nov. 18, 2020. – AP Photo / Sergei Grits
A family drives a truck loaded with a small house along a highway as they leave their home village in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nov. 18, 2020. Ethnic Armenians were leaving their homes before the region was handed over to control by Azerbaijani forces. – AP Photo / Sergei Grits
On their first day in the town of Vardenis,they found a family packing up their home and planning to leave the next day. Chernov and Lovetsky made another arduous trip to Yerevan and back,returning in time to record the family destroying their own property. The pair would complete that dangerous round trip between Nagorno-Karabakh and Yerevan five times in less than week,the final time only just beating the permanent closure of the border ahead of the planned handover to Azerbaijani and Russian forces.
Despite the tough conditions,the pair,joined by colleague Sergei Grits,produced powerful, emotionally charged reporting and images,including the moving story of a family having a last meal in their home before burning it. They also used a drone to great effect, getting striking images of the burning structures and the long lines of fleeing Armenians.
“In the end, we will blow it up or set it on fire.” Armenians torch their homes in a village that’s set to be turned over to Azerbaijan on Sunday as part of an agreement to end six weeks of intense fighting. https://t.co/oBSwD2SHoe
The main video edit of houses burning was used extensively by several key customers including Sky News,which produced its own online edit that has been viewed more than 75,000 times. As of Wednesday,AP’s edit had been used some 650 times by more than 100 broadcast channels. In addition to Sky,others using the footage included ABC,Al Jazeera,France 24 and Rai News. Meanwhile,AP’s initial consumer edit of Chernov’s video was watched more than 10,000 times on YouTube.
For displaying exceptional commitment and courage in their coverage of last week’s dramatic developments — as they have throughout this weekslong story — Chernov and Lovetsky earn AP’s Best of the Week award.
