By Rachel Avraham
Christmas is approaching, yet people can hardly feel the Christmas spirit this year in Azerbaijan, as the country is presently under a strict coronavirus lockdown and is still reeling from the grave humanitarian disaster that the people experienced during the Second Karabakh War that was accompanied by a great pandemic. According to Caspian News, 202,088 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 in Azerbaijan and the death toll stands at 2,210. At the same time, 2,783 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed in the Second Karabakh War, Yahoo News reported.
“According to the Azerbaijani prosecutor general’s office, 98 civilians were killed and 414 wounded during the armed conflict, and over 3,000 homes and 100 apartment buildings were destroyed or damaged,” Human Rights Watch reported. “Azerbaijani government officials told Human Rights Watch that fighting displaced 40,000 people. Residents from conflict-affected areas that Human Rights Watch visited said that many people, especially women and children, had fled to safer areas. The laws of war require attackers to issue effective warnings of attacks affecting civilians unless circumstances do not permit. Witnesses to attacks said they were not aware of warnings from Armenian or local Nagorno-Karabakh forces.”
Anastasia LaVrina, a Russian Christian who works for Azerbaijani TV, proclaimed in an exclusive interview: “We will be glad to celebrate on Christmas, but not this year. This year, there will not be any Christmas trees nor celebrations. More than 2,000 died during this war in Azerbaijan. It is not nice to hold celebrations given this. It is not the right time to celebrate with bright colors. It has not even been 40 days since the Second Karabakh War ended.”
On top of that, she noted that that there was a spike in coronavirus infections due to the Azerbaijani victory celebrations following the war: “That is why the government has a strict lockdown. All the cinemas, shopping malls and electric stores; everything is closed in Azerbaijan. People can only leave home for three hours once per day. You can go only to the supermarket and the pharmacy and for only three hours. There is a restricted number who can go to work. The rest must stay home. This is our life till the 18th of January.”
Nevertheless, LaVrina claims that other countries got it worse than Azerbaijan, as the lockdown has caused a rapid decline in the rate of infection within the country: “When we see what is happening in the UK and other European countries, the situation is better in Azerbaijan. More than 2,000 are infected each day, which represents a decline, so the government measures are effective. To prevent 5,000-6,000 deaths, Azerbaijan has a strict lockdown.”
“After the victory of the Second Karabakh War, we had great celebrations and forgot to wear masks and social distance,” she noted. “If the government does not take measures, people will go and celebrate outside on Christmas, even though not everyone can celebrate fully this Christmas. Many mothers, wives and daughters who lost loved ones in this war cannot truly celebrate this year, for even though they are grateful for the victory, they feel sad over the loss of their loved ones.”
This year, people will only be celebrating Christmas and the New Year with their immediate families. Nevertheless, considering the vaccine and the new peace agreement under the auspices of Russia, many Christians in Azerbaijan are hoping that soon things will be better and next year, Christmas will return to its former glory.
