Reports From Kashatagh (Lachin) Cite Worsening Socio-Economic Conditions

Recently, several journalistic exposes focusing on the Lachin Corridor region between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have revealed that due to worsening social and economic conditions many residents are leaving the area for greener pastures.

During the 1992-1994 Nagorno-Karabakh war, this region, then a part of Azerbaijan was captured by Armenian forces and renamed "Kashatagh". After the war, a policy to repopulate the area with Armenians was instituted. According to news reports this policy has long been abandoned by the local authorities.

The Yerevan-based independent news group, "Hetq Online - Investigative Journalists of Armenia", recently published a series of reports from the region citing popular discontent with local administrators and government inaction to ameliorate living conditions. Hetq reporters even cite local suspicions regarding a hidden agenda by the Karabakh government to gradually depopulate those areas that lie outside the borders of Nagorno-Karabakh and use them as bargaining chips in future peace negotiations. Many local residents openly state that, "it's as if the governments in Yerevan and Karabakh would rather see us leave than stay".

**** For further information, we urge readers to contact: HetqOnline at: www.hetq.am/eng/society/0607-kashatagh.html and One World Media Blog at: http://oneworld.blogsome.com/category/karabakh/