Conflict is not the division of land but the division of people The landlocked mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh is the subject of an unresolved dispute between Azerbaijan, in which it lies, and its ethnic Armenian majority, backed by neighbouring Armenia. In 1988, the break-up of the Soviet Union led to a series of armed conflicts in the South Caucasus, as different nationalities used the opportunity to press for independence. Azerbaijan troops and Armenian seccessionists began a bloody war which left the de facto independent state of Nagorno-Karabakh in the hands of ethnic Armenians when a truce was signed in 1994. Over twenty thousand casualties and almost one and a half million refugees created a refugee flow which has resulted in a considerable crisis especially in Azerbaijan, with the number of displaced persons numbering close to one million. One factor which has made a solution to the conflict all the more difficult is the division of people into three parties, that is the governments of the two sovereign states as well as that of the unrecognized ‘Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh’ . The conflict has raged in the immediate vicinity of three states that moreover happen to be regional powers: Russia, Turkey, and Iran. The portraits capture faces of different people from different states in the region and vividly represent the human side of conflict, where each individual remains above all a human being with his or her right to be what they are, wherever they live, with dignity and in peace. Banksdeeper1 Azerbaijan : A man on the beach with a oil drilling rig behind. Banksdeeper2 Armenia : A military man sits and has a quiet drink at the carnival Banksdeeper3 Armenia : A lady washes up in the old part of Yerevan Banksdeeper4 Nagorno-Karabakh : An athlete next to the Stepanakert stadium in Nagorno Karabakh Banksdeeper5 Azerbaijan : A young man waits at a bus stop in Salyan.
Conflict is not the division of land but the division of people
The landlocked mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh is the subject of an unresolved dispute between Azerbaijan, in which it lies, and its ethnic Armenian majority, backed by neighbouring Armenia. In 1988, the break-up of the Soviet Union led to a series of armed conflicts in the South Caucasus, as different nationalities used the opportunity to press for independence. Azerbaijan troops and Armenian seccessionists began a bloody war which left the de facto independent state of Nagorno-Karabakh in the hands of ethnic Armenians when a truce was signed in 1994. Over twenty thousand casualties and almost one and a half million refugees created a refugee flow which has resulted in a considerable crisis especially in Azerbaijan, with the number of displaced persons numbering close to one million.
One factor which has made a solution to the conflict all the more difficult is the division of people into three parties, that is the governments of the two sovereign states as well as that of the unrecognized ‘Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh’ . The conflict has raged in the immediate vicinity of three states that moreover happen to be regional powers: Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
The portraits capture faces of different people from different states in the region and vividly represent the human side of conflict, where each individual remains above all a human being with his or her right to be what they are, wherever they live, with dignity and in peace.
Banksdeeper1
Azerbaijan : A man on the beach with a oil drilling rig behind.
Banksdeeper2
Armenia : A military man sits and has a quiet drink at the carnival
Banksdeeper3
Armenia : A lady washes up in the old part of Yerevan
Banksdeeper4
Nagorno-Karabakh : An athlete next to the Stepanakert stadium in Nagorno Karabakh
Banksdeeper5
Azerbaijan : A young man waits at a bus stop in Salyan.