Borderlands Under Fire exposes the world of a frozen conflict and the effects of state-sponsored violence on the daily lives of the people of the frontier villages of Armenia, a tiny country in the South Caucasus.
The book explores of one of the conflicts simmering in the region, mostly unknown in the West. In 2020 its oil-rich neighbor with a population more than three times its size attacked Armenia and the neighboring indigenous Armenian population of the Republic of Artsakh, drawing in powerful countries of Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Borderlands asks us to consider the questions that arise when a powerful country attempts to impose its will on its impoverished neighbor without a declaration of war and unacknowledged by the world. In 2023 Azerbaijan laid siege to the Republic of Artsakh for nearly ten months, starving what remained of its population of about 160,000 souls until outright genocide was committed and survivors fled leaving everything behind. The world stood by and watched in exchange for oil.
“The road through Armenia’s Tavush province twists and turns along the slopes of thickly forested mountains, looking over deep green valleys. The patchwork of farms, orchards, and flowers is dotted with houses made of wood or pink tufa stone. Dirt roads branch off on either side of the main highway, leading to tiny villages nestled among the rocks. People walk along the village streets, greeting each other as they go to school, the local market, or a friend’s house.
But across the border loom the Azeri military bases, keeping a constant rain of gunfire to disrupt the quiet mountain air. The bullets find their way into people’s walls. They smash windows. Children pick them up on their way to school. They target the fields, forcing farmers to stay inside and watch their crops rot.” from Borderlands Under Fire