Will you shoot a video reflecting Azerbaijan’s point of view on this topic? It would fair and great if you shoot a video from Baku or Shusha presenting other side’s view. 👍

Your next video should be in Baku

Waiting for your visit to Baku and the liberated territories, especially Shusha! But, unfortunately, your some remarks don't reflect the reality, for example, you say Azerbaijan wasn't willing to negotiate to settle the matter. However, I want to let you know that Azerbaijan participated in all kinds of negotiation processes for 30 years. And because of the Armenian side's provocations aimed at spoiling the negotiation processes, and the co-chair states' unwillingness, made Azerbaijan to cut its own umbilical cord. Moreover, the statements(Artsakh is Armenia)and actions(going to Shusha, drinking and dancing there) of the prime minister of Armenia in recent years made the negotiations meaningless and totally ended them. Azerbaijan has always wanted to solve it in a peaceful way, but Armenia hasn't wanted to because then Armenia should have obeyed to the UN Security Council's 4 resolutions, which clearly stated that Armenian forces should leave the occupied territories of Azerbaijan unconditionally, immediately and completely.

Great video, continue to do videos like this.

@@muradshirinov7451 Thanks. If you listen again, I was very clear to point out that this was the simply view I heard in Yerevan. It wasn’t a statement of my view. In fact, I explicitly pointed out that I would hear something very different in Baku. This was a video deliberately designed to relay what I heard in Armenia. I didn’t go to judge. Just to listen to how people view the situation a year on from the war. Hopefully that is useful in its own right. But it’s important not to jump to conclusions about what my own views may, or may not, be.

Thanks. I would love to do more of these. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do it often. But I do hope that I will be able to do it from time to time.

@@JamesKerLindsay best wishes and respect for Armenia and Azerbaijan From south asia pakistan

Thank you so much LocalLt. That is incredibly kind of you. You know how much I always value your thoughts! I am so glad you liked the style. I thought long and hard about how best to try to approach it. People have suggested that I should have done some interviews and vox pops. But this was difficult for a number of reasons, not least of all the sensitivity of the subject and language issues. In the end, I hoped that distilling the many conversations I had when I was there and trying to give a flavour of the city would be my own way of doing things. I also wanted to hold off from too much analysis. I went to listen, not to judge (although I obviously have a lot of views on things). Technically, it was also a challenge as I haven't done any outdoors videos before. Needless to say, I hope to be able to do more of these from time to time. I don't think they will be very often, but hopefully they will add an occasional something extra to the channel.

It's a required job from him. He is doing a secret job for secret societies. Wake up bro 🤔🤷‍♂️

Thanks Abdi. I have been thinking about doing some interviews at some point, but in a different format. It wasn’t suitable for this video as the subject is very raw. I didn’t want to ask people in the street what they thought about the conflict. One has to be careful about this. Also, most older people don’t speak English. Russian is the main second language there still.

Thanks so much GW. I was obviously rather apprehensive about doing it. It was such a change from my usual videos. But I thought that a trip to Armenia was just too good an opportunity to try something new. And I was really keen to try to convey some sort of sense if the city. It really is a lovely place. I enjoyed my time there enormously. It really was very welcoming.

There is no any international law which insist that's the land

@@vartankhachadourian7048 and you still deny it.

Azerbaijan didn’t deny international law when torturing and killing innocent Armenian civilians? Or exploding trucks carrying supplies, rations, and water. All these actions are against the Geneva Conventions and you turn a blind eye to it?

@@aalexandrian accept the reality. War is over and you lost it. The truth won. Just live with it. Never think about revenge.

@@nurlanshikhaliyev7274 did Azerbaijan accept the fact that they lost in 1994?

Thank you so much. I am really glad you liked it. I will try to do more from time to time. I have a couple of ideas brewing!

Well the Armenians are allied with Rus a IA. Which shares their problems in many ways. Having lived near Glendsle California which has a large concentrations of Armenians and well devoted white collar crime such as hacking data bases Medicare fraud credit card fraud car theft and export rings etc its really not surprising that Armenia has problems with its neighbors. The Azeris are themselves rather a piece of work. So it's not surprising th as t they have problems with the Armenians. In any event in the latest hostilities the Azeris throughly thrashed the Armenians. Th we EU and the US did not stop or intervene with the war given Armenisns alignment with Russia.

Hahah yeah he will never do such a video. Biased christian ofc

@@supaturk97 More like he's gonna have to tiptoe much more carefully there. For instance, isn't anyone who denies Azeri claims to Artsakh liable to immediate arrest upon entry to the country?

Yes, sure pretending to be offended is the best way to justify any violence.

@@supaturk97 The guy seemed to work pretty damned hard to be objective. The video was essentially about how Armenians feel and he did a good job of conveying that. I would have liked his explanation of the origins of this conflict to be a tad bit more in line with reality but overall I think he did a very good job presenting an extremely sensitive topic.

@@MinecraftAddict991 where are y from?

Thanks. Unfortunately not. But there was something about him that just stood out. As I was going through my footage, it just seemed to be the perfect ending to the video. It was really nice to hear that you had been over there and recognised so many of the places. I must say that I really loved Yerevan. I found it such an interesting city, even despite the difficulties that that country faces. It was rather different from what I had expected. But certainly well worth a visit for anyone who hasn’t been.

@@JamesKerLindsay Indeed it was 😁 I now remember something I wanted to share. On our tour we visited a Cognac distillery and they had a circular room on ground level in which they raised flags of different nations, and a single barrel of liquor, waiting to be opened for a special day. What day, I asked (dramatising a little), and the treasurer replied: for when we celebrate a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Their good faith delighted me. Later I experienced a romance with an Armenian woman, I wonder how it fared for her. We texted a bit on this, but she is not the one to reveal much of her emotions. Realising Armenia's dire geopolitical position, I can understand better why many Armenians, including this highly educated and intellectual woman, tend to have a one-sided view of their territorial fights with Azerbaijan and struggle to come to terms with Russia's limited loyalty.

It seems to me that the guy plays the old Soviet tune 'А нам все равно' in a jazzy fashion.

Thank you so much Fredo! And thank you for the absolutely brilliant tips before I left. I can’t tell you how much I appreciated it! It made a huge difference.

Thank you so much!

Thank you very much indeed!

Thank you so much! I hadn’t realised. I just heard the chap playing and just whipped out the camera and started filming. It just seemed such an appropriate tune to end the video. I certainly didn’t appreciate its deeper significance. :-)

Thanks so much! I certainly love to do more like this from time to time.

Thanks so much. It was certainly a very different video from my usual ones! I’d love to do more of them from time to time. It probably won’t be very often though. But I do have some potential ideas in mind.

Thank you very much indeed. I really appreciate it. I'm not actually a journalist, and this was my first ever attempt to make a video on location, and so it perhaps lacked some of the finesse that one would expect of a news report. But I hoped that it would give a flavour of the situation.

Thank you!

Thank you so much! :-) I’m so glad to hear that you liked it. It was obviously something entirely new for me. It was great to have the chance to go to Armenia and this seemed like the best topic to tackle while I was there. I certainly hope to be able to more of these from time to time. In the meantime, thanks so much once again for all the support!

Thank you so much Aram. I had always wanted to go to Armenia. (I lived in Cyprus and there is an Armenian community there. I was always fascinated by it.) It really is such an interesting and welcoming country. But as you could see I also wanted to get a sense of how people see the situation now, but hopefully present it in a fair and non-judgemental way.

@@JamesKerLindsay Fascinating. Yes, Armenians definitely take pride in hospitality and will sometimes be effusive in the best way possible, haha. Very much appreciate the lack of judgement. I think this video can also remind Armenians in the diaspora that the "denial" that seems to exist in bustling Yerevan is only a veneer that covers the profound feelings of devastation and grief.

@@JamesKerLindsay I would like to see you in Azerbaijan.

@@josephali2965 Yes. Maybe one day. But in the meantime enjoy seeing me in Armenia.

@@JamesKerLindsay It's great to watch your videos. Good luck !

28 years of defeat for Azerbaijan.. Wowwww. Armenians have been experiencing victories and defeats for thousands of years..

@@asala2116 armenia only 100 years, show me 1 armenian empire. NONE! 200 years ago no armenia

@@cavada615 every Historian in the world will laugh at your statement.. Our Empire has been recognised by every Old Civilization..If what you said is true then how did the Armenians have an Empire stretching from the Caspian to the Black Sea to the Mediterranean all well known and documented history by the people living in thise days, how did we fight a large war against the Persians in 451 AD, how did we live in the Ottoman Empire for 700 years? Wake up to yourself and get some education..

@@asala2116 весь мир уже смеётся над вашими сказками ))

@@asala2116 In whole history you only have 1 fake empire like 3000 years ago. Show me just 1 armenian country or empire last like 2000 years. NONE! I can show you many Azerbaijani empires last 1000 years

Thank you so much. I would love to do more of these. Not easy to put them together. But I hope they are something I can do occasionally. And a very Merry Christmas to you too! :-)

Thank you so much. It was obviously a bit of an experiment. I’d like to do more of them.

Thank you so much! I am so glad you liked it.

Thank you so much. It was so different from my usual videos. And quite a challenge as I have never tried location shooting before. I’m so glad you liked it!

Thanks so much Marco. I’m really glad you liked it! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do these very often, but it’s nice to try to do one from time to time. I hope all is well with you.

Thank you so much!

Supposedly, Artsakh still exists but 1/3 smaller. They still have a government. Russian troops are stationed in Artsakh. Who knows what will happen when they leave. Population before the war at least 150.000. Around 90.000 left but many returned. Russian counted at least 50.000 returning. The government of Artsakh says there population is currently 120.000. Azerbaijan says Artsakhs population is 25.000, a figure they use to give the excuse on no need for further negotiations when it comes to Artsakh. Artsakh really needs the UN to have an official population count.

@@ab9840 Nope,we won the war and liberated our lands. Karabakh is Azerbaijan 🇦🇿. Armenians in 4 regions are Azerbaijanis and they will accept Azerbaijani passports

@@ab9840 There no troops, they are called peace keepers.

@HayelladaBall38 Probably true but you need to stop dreaming back for thousands years… It doesn’t help to develop Armenia in this stage

@HayelladaBall38 Sure!

Thanks so much. I would tend to agree. It does help countries face up to disastrous situations like this. Many outsiders I have spoken to who know the situation well pointed out that Armenia had become very complacent over the past couple of decades. But there's also an issue that it just couldn't keep up with Azerbaijan's military spending. There were years when Baku was spending more on its armed forces than the entire Armenian state budget! But it is clear that Turkish - and Israeli - help was decisive. (It is also fascinating to see how drones are completely revolutionising warfare.) In any case, it would be really interesting to read a full account of all this at some point - if we ever get one!?

For your info genius, Armenia got the cheap stuff from Russia. The soviet version of their weapons. And Azerbaijan could afford and spent far more on the Russian, Israeli, Turkish latest cutting edge weapins with its oil cash. As for Israel's? They sure helped, since anyone is supported by them has western support autimatucally, or turning a blind eye on their actions. And azeri corrupt dictatorship is one such country.

@@JamesKerLindsay Huge military spending does not necessarily translate into military strength. An example would be how little Saudis accomplished militarily during its years-long conflict against Housis in Yemen.

@@JamesKerLindsay, the whole idea in warfare is to make sure that your opponent is inferior to you in as many aspects as possible. One can always find injustice even if they have the equal number of soldiers, equipment, budget. There is always something that makes one side win. It takes intelligence to use those resources and diplomatic skills to benefit from foreign actors.

What many don't realize, is that Pashinyan was ALWAYS making anti-Artsakhi statements in favor of Azerbaijan, and then he came to power through a color revolution. Google "color revolution" and see what that is. No, it's not NATO and ISIS and Israel helping AZE that decided the war- it was Pashinyan. He capitulated. Russia even tried getting inside to help early on, but Pashinyan refused. Lol. Color revolutions are backed by the US, UK, and EU and other NATO members. There is geopolitical reasons for this, and it all comes down to $$$ sadly.

Thank you so much Todor! I am so glad you liked it. I am not sure how often I will be able to do them, but I would certainly like to do more occasionally.

Thank you so much. I loved doing this video. It was certainly something different. Not sure how often I’ll be able to do them though. But it would be nice to do more.

Thank you so much! I really loved doing that video. It was my very first on location. I would really love to do some more. I have a couple of ideas.

Your videos have become an obsession for me. The way you cut through decades of history in minutes is fascinating. Am Ugandan following your channel. I will make a contribution to your work soon.

Thank you very much!

Thank you so much. I don't know how often I will be able to do them, but I do hope to make more like this from time to time.

Melonhead azeryturq s.o.b.

@@vshlearning7230 s.o.b

Thank you so much Brian. I’m really glad you liked it. It was an absolutely fascinating experience. Hopefully, I was able to get across a sense of what Yerevan is like and how people see the situation after the war.

Thanks. I am glad you found it interesting.

Thank you!

Thank you so much! That’s incredibly kind of you to say!

Thank you. I fully agree. Sadly, many opportunities for a negotiated settlement were missed.

Thanks. I thought so too! Do keep an eye out for upcoming videos. I’m hoping to do another one in the next month or so.

Thanks! How have you found living there? From my week there, it seems like a lovely city and very liveable.

@@JamesKerLindsay Good and bad, I don't like the police. Maybe if the Economy was better.

Interesting to hear about the police. I must say that I noticed rather a lot of them. But I never felt any sort of threat from them. Then again, I know that while they often avoid foreigners it is only matter if time before you have to encounter them for some reason. I can remember a very unpleasant run in with Greek police one night when I lived in Athens. We’re taught to be polite to police. In Greece everyone hates the police and so they don’t trust people who are too polite. In fact the more polite I was the more aggressive and unpleasant they became. My girlfriend, who was about as tough a Greek woman as I’ve knew, sat back and watched with amusement until it looked like they were going to arrest me for being too polite. Choosing her moment perfectly she stepped in and went mad at them. Threatening them. They backed off immediately! Never seen anything like it, especially as that would get you arrested on Britain! Anyway, I get a sense of what you might mean. I was only in Yerevan a short time, but really liked it. But I know his difficult it can be when you have to live in a place much longer. What seems fun and different at first can become very frustrating very quickly. Again, Athens springs to kind! :-)

Thank you so much! I hoped it would come out OK. It was so different from anything I’ve done before. And I’m certainly not a professional journalist or documentary film maker. But I like to think it was an interesting and useful look at the situation over there.

Thank you so much. It was such an interesting experience to be able to visit Armenia and speak to people. But it is worrying to think that the conflict could erupt again.

Thank you so much! I am so glad you liked it. I would certainly love to do more of these. It was really enjoyable to do. But they will probably be relatively rare. I was over for a teaching assignment and so this gave me the opportunity to do it. Otherwise, it would have simply been impossible to cover the costs from the limited ad revenues I earn from my videos. And even then I was out of pocket as I had to buy new kit to film it. Sadly, the channel is more of a costly labour of love than a path to riches! :-)

Thank you so much! Really appreciated. Let’s hope. :-)

Thank you so much Robin. Yerevan is indeed really nice. Very welcoming and full of culture. In general, I would really recommend the Caucasus. I have also been to Tblisi and enjoyed that enormously as well. So much interesting history to see. And the food is some of the best in the world! (What they do with pomegranates and walnuts is amazing!) Also, it is exceptionally good value when you get there.

@@JamesKerLindsay Georgia is definitely somewhere else I'd love to go! If it weren't for the Geopolitical issues, then I imagine that the whole area would be a tourist hotspot.

Thanks. I was thinking if doing interviews on camera, but it is a very sensitive subject. It still feels very raw for many people. I thought it was better to do reflections based on the many conversations I had over there. I’m using a Canon XA40. It’s still very new and I hadn’t done any location videos before so I wasn’t familiar with all the settings. I also shot in 1080 rather than 4K. But I must say I rather liked the finished product. (Also, colour is a bit of a problem for me as I’m actually colourblind. I dread trying to ‘fix’ anything. It’s all good when I’m doing my usual videos as I know the precise lighting temperatures and settings. But out and about it was really tricky.)

@@JamesKerLindsay My bad. I didn't know. So sorry for what I said.

Not to worry. I’ve lived with it for all my life. But it does make things like this a little tricky. :-)

Thank you so much! And a very warm welcome to the channel.

@@JamesKerLindsay thank you sir

Thanks so much Marcus! That’s high praise coming from a professional like you. I’d love to try more of them. The busker was indeed brilliant. :-)

Thank you very much indeed. It was an interesting opportunity to look at how people in Armenia see the situation a year after the conflict. I hope that it was a useful look at their views.

Qərəzli heçnə yoxdu videoda?

@@hidayetresulzade2699 xeyir obyektif formada herşeyi gözel başa salıb

@@buggernight7129 siz dilimizde yazan ermenisiz 100%. duz edirsiz, oyrenin turk dilini)

@@labella7458 besdirinde hele Sizin kimilərə göre Azerbaycanda inkişaf etmir

Thanks so much. I am really glad you liked it. I really enjoyed making it. I would certainly like to do more when I can.

Why are you so sure Azerbaijan will not participate in the contest in Armenia? There is a precedent as Azerbaijani Youth judo team participated in a competition in Armenia in 2009. I hope it will be repeated in Junior Eurovision as both governments more or less try to stabilize the relations.

Both leaders? Azeris claim Armenia to be small and weak and they claim they lost so by logic Azeris started the war and Armenians were protecting themselves and their country. Armenians do not hate and have many friends do Turks and Azeris have many allies ?

@@haroutkabaian9627 It does not help to continue repeating the same phrases over and over, Harout. If you want our region to prosper, stop repeating the same illogical, toxic, neo-fascist patriotic ideologies. Azerbaijanis do not wish nor try to make Armenia "smaller", no, Azerbaijanis want the houses, the lands they had to leave 30 years ago due to the fact that Armenians occupied them. But it's in the past. Now is not the time to decide what was right or wrong in the history, but to flip the paper over and work together for a better future.

@@gudrat Armenia decided not to participate in Azerbaijan in 2012 when they hosted the adult Eurovision. Could be that Azerbaijan would do the same, but ofc I hope they'll participate nevertheless.

@@FUZZYnow those are there's!!!!! Go read history!

Thank you so much! I’m so glad you found it interesting and balanced. And a very warm welcome to the channel!

Thanks. It was something very different. But I would love to do more of them when I can.

Yes! I tried posting a comment about it earlier, but it didn't stay up for some reason. Interesting relevance to the content of the video.

Well me as a Russian I would say this conflict is a tragedy. But I completely agreed with what Putin did. Sure Putin didn’t make it perfect but it has stopped most of the fighting but also keeping stable relations with both countries

@@Nikolaievich9837 Putin made sure neither side got a decisive victory and made sure a situation for future tension wasn't lost.

@@williamdavis9562 Putin made sure both sides were happy. Armenia still holds parts of Karakbh. At the same time he tried to please the Azerbaijanis In order to lessen the tensions. By the way did you know that before the war Russian language Wasent taught in Armenia. But after the conflict Russia is now part of there education syestem

@@Nikolaievich9837 And he got Russian troops into the region which was his main goal. Lets not forget this conflict has roots in Russian policy to draw borders to ferment conflict between ethnic groups so they're easier to control. This specific conflict exists because Russia armed Armenia to the teeth to invade their neighbor and didn't even blink an eye as 800,000 people were ethnically cleansed. So now we're supposed to believe they're the peace makers? Please.... I understand Russian policy, they need influence in these regions to defend their heartland, especially considering how aggressive Nato has been to Russia, I get that I also get that the easiest way to maintain influence is to keep these nations in conflict with each other. But don't paint this situation as Russian influence being a good thing for the native people, they're simply not.

@@williamdavis9562 during Soviet Russia, Gorbachev constantly held a pro-Azeri position and in 1991, the Soviet Union in conjunction with Azerbaijan started a mass deportation of Armenians called Operation Ring in a region called Shahumyan. Tens of thousands of Armenians were forcefully deported from their ancestrial homeland. It can be said that in the early part of the war, Soviet Russia supported Azerbaijan from 1988-1991. From 1992-1994, Russia took an officially neutral stance. Though, Russia helped Armenia in 1992 in one major way; Turkey threatened to invade Armenia and there were almost 100,000 Turkish soldiers on the Turkish-Armenian border ready to invade Armenia. Russia told Turkey to back off because in case of a Turkish invasion of Armenia, Russia would intervene. There was also an often close connection between Armenian and Russian generals because both have fought and gained a lot of experience during the war of Afghanistan during Soviet times. Russia is not the cause of this conflict but the result of the Soviet Policy. Sure Russia takes pride in the Soviet legacy but so do other countries like Belarus, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Also a lot of the Leaders of the Soviet government were from across the Soviet Union. So I don’t see how this would be Russia’s fault. Russia has been trying to maintain peace. Infact Putin said that Russian troops in Karabakh are meant for peace. And if you noticed fighting has decreased a lot and only shootouts happen where Russian soldiers are not present.

Thanks. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to do these sorts of videos. But it would be nice to do them from time to time. I did also try to film a few answers for a Q&A video, but I ran out of time. I am hoping to finish up some here in London and do a hybrid video! :-) Yes, Armenia is wonderful. I didn't get out of Yerevan unfortunately. But I really loved the city. There is a lot of history and it feels very cultured. Also, the food is wonderful. I would highly recommend a visit.

Thank you so much!

This is a very nuanced take and I think you have an excellent point

I am happy that there are people who are not brainwashed by the "western propoganda" and the Armenian lobby. Yes. 800.000 people who lost their homes are almost never mentioned by the west. Unfortunately.

What you refer to as ethnic cleansing was Azeri’s leaving the surrounding areas of Nagorno-Karabakh and Soviet Armenia/Republic of Armenia during the war since around 400.000 of them lived in Soviet Armenia Heydar Eliyev admitted trying to change the demographic in the largly Armenian dominated region by encouraging Azeri’s to migrate to NK by opening a university with Azeri sectors and opening shoe factories. This and Baku’s other policies like limiting the Armenian language in schools and the press resulted in Armenians wanting independence from Azerbaijan. Armenians living in western countries do not revolt against their governments because those governments treat them with respect, something Azerbaijan and the Ottoman Empire (and Turkey until the 80’s) didn’t do

After Armenians in NK grew increasingly dissatisfied with Soviet Baku’s policies a referendum was held where a majority of NKOA citizens voted to either be independent from Azerbaijan or join the Armenian Soviet Republic. In response the Pogrom’s against Armenians living in Azerbaijani cities like Baku, Sumgait and Kirovabad (Ganja) stated. This was the start of the war and I believe Azeri’s lost the first war because they didn’t have the proper reason to defend a region that they knew has always been inhabited largely by Armenians. I can say that Armenians lost the 2020 war because they grew too comfortable with the status quo. Also Baku’s government for 30 years has been promoting ethnic hatred against Armenians and lying about history (saying ancient churches in NK are not Armenian but ancient Caucasus Albanian (not European Albanian)). This hatred among young Azerbaijani’s who have never met an Armenian before lead to the same strong feelings wanting to take land the same way Armenians wanted to become independent from Azerbaijan and succeeded.

@@Not_From_Holland So this is how you rationalize the wholesale ethnic cleansing of nearly 800,000 civilians? Do all ethnic cleansing deniers use the same guidebook or something? Your version of events seems oddly similar to when the Turks blame the Armenians for the Armenian genocide. I see you've been taking lessons from them.

Thank you so much Mohammad. I am so glad you found in interesting. And a very warm welcome to the channel. I don't do these videos very often (this was actually my first), but I hope you will like my usual ones as well.

@@JamesKerLindsay I watched quite several, and I can say they are rightly informed👍🙏

Thank you so much for the kind wishes. I was thinking that I really should try to take a look at the situation, especially given recent events. I will try to do one early in the new year. On that note, let me also wish you all my very best wishes for the holidays. Let’s indeed hope that 2022 will be more peaceful.

@@JamesKerLindsay thank you very much ☺️.

Who are your common enemies?

@@husseinabbasoff2128 Turks that came here from Mongolia 😊

@@Natchke_V. Mongolians are different language familiy. They are not turk. And there are a lot of nations who ruled the new teretories. Armenians couldn't ruled their historical state. But georgia could. There is no Bizanate, Babil, Wikings anymore. World is secular. But if you support your religious brother. That is your opinion. I hope you also love your Christian Russian brother. Even they took Abkhazia and Shout Ossetia. But you can't judge them. Because they're also your religious brother.

@@husseinabbasoff2128 You aren’t native Caucasians,you are Turks and not Caucasians.native causasians are Georgians,Chechens,ingushs and other people Your historical land is in Iran and not in Caucasus ;)

All of the separatist projects in the South Caucasus are known to be interlinked and all of them were originally led, coordinated and directed by the Armenian lobby. And beyond this, they have one main feature: demographically, the separatists were doomed in advance and it was an attempt to "outplay the laws of history" that explained their savage, inhuman cruelty and purposefully organized genocide of the population, the "wrong", from the separatists' point of view, nationalities - Georgians in Abkhazia and Azerbaijanis in Karabakh. After all, it was enough to take statistical data from Soviet times to understand that demographically the three most "problematic" groups in the South Caucasus were Ossetians in South Ossetia, Abkhazians in Abkhazia and Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Abkhaz and Ossetians of Samachablo had lower fertility rates than the Georgians and the Armenians of Karabakh had much lower fertility rates than the Azerbaijanis. Furthermore, this also encouraged nationalism and separatism and was used by provocateurs to say that "if we leave things the way they are, they will "outbreed" us. Although no one in principle prevented the separatists from showing personal example and to "multiply and multiply" themselves. But the fact is that most of the leaders of the separatist movement had families with either few or no children. However, international law knows no such thing as infringement of human rights on the grounds of belonging to a demographically better ethnos. One cannot expel a person from his homeland just because his fellow tribesmen have more children than the separatists have " "miatsums" Therefore, the separatists not only lied, making up historical myths, according to which native Georgian and Azerbaijani people in their native lands were allegedly "newcomers", but they conducted ethnically cleansing of the peaceful population with wild cruelty during the wars unleashed. Firstly, to radically alter the ethno-demographic situation by killing as many people as possible, and secondly, to intimidate people so that they were afraid to return to their homes. This explains the brutality against the civilian population of both Armenian fighters in Khojaly and the same Armenian fighters and Abkhazian separatists in Sukhumi. That the separatists and Armenian nationalists have always considered the demographic factor as the main one and that is why they carried out ethnic cleansing, in fact, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan acknowledged and in fact revealed the aims of the separatists from the Karabakh clan, as well as those who sponsored and directed separatism in Abkhazia. This is evident from the text of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's statement on the negotiations on Nagorny Karabakh's notorious 'status' that the previous Armenian authorities were going to conduct: "...I refuted Serzh Sargsyan's statement at the RPA congress that the essence of the negotiations they abandoned guaranteed that Nagorno-Karabakh remained Armenian. Refuted because the right of Azerbaijanis living in NKAO to participate in the decision on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as residents of Nagorno-Karabakh was fixed in the content of the negotiations. Consequently, if according to the content of the negotiations they are residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, then they should have been residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Armenian side never objected to this content of the negotiations before the 2018 revolution. And if we take into account that a referendum on the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh, according to the content of the negotiations formed before I became Prime Minister, could have taken place 100 years later, it is predictable what changes in the demographic picture would have been in 'Artsakh' under those conditions...". In other words, everything is clear as to why not only the brutality in the massacre of Azerbaijanis in Khojaly, but also why similar atrocities in Abkhazia against Georgians. It is also clear why there is such wild Georgianophobia of the Armenian lobby in Russia, and why the same Armenia's constant voting against the return of Georgian refugees and Abkhazia at the UN General Assembly. One can logically surmise where is a completely senseless visa regime for citizens of Georgia introduced on the initiative of the Armenian lobby in Russia? Armenian lobby was not and does not want Georgian refugees to return to Abkhazia. So as not to create a precedent for the return of Azerbaijani refugees to Karabakh. In addition, due to the Armenian nationalists' inherent "greed" for foreign lands, they already consider Abkhazia "theirs", i.e. "Armenian" and do everything to ensure that Armenians demographically dominate here. Bear in mind that before the separatist wars, Georgians made up over 45% of the population of Abkhazia and Azerbaijanis over 30% of the population of NKAO. But! There is a pattern - the birth rate and natural increase of refugees is almost always higher than that of their persecutors. Obviously, the birth rate and natural increase of refugees from Karabakh and Abkhazia will be somewhat lower, but it is much higher than that of the separatists. In reality, before the second Karabakh war, no more than 50,000 of the original 120,000 or so Karabakh Armenians were left. At best, only 25,000 (some of them moved to occupied Abkhazia). Azerbaijani refugees from the former NKAO have long since outnumbered them. The families of refugees from Karabakh are the most numerous in Azerbaijan. Thus, there is no need to wait for 100 years, any referendum held in the territory of the former NKAO, if Azerbaijanis are returned to their homes, will show that the vast majority of the indigenous population of Karabakh considers it Azerbaijan! For Georgians refugees from Abkhazia, the demographic trends are somewhat similar. It is enough to visit any refugee settlement and one can see a lot of drying baby clothes, diapers and other children's clothes, small children everywhere. And at the same time, the families of the separatist looters who expelled them are often simply dying out in "trophy" homes. In this regard, one is simply amazed at the mendacity and cynicism of Armenian nationalists. They shout on every corner when they benefit from "friendship and brotherhood" with the Georgian people, but have deliberately arranged ethno-cleansing of the Georgian population from Abkhazia, deliberately do not allow Georgian refugees back to their homes and pursue a policy of "visa barriers" so that Georgians could not get into occupied Abkhazia even through Russia which occupied this territory. kavkazplus com

Great to hear! Thank you so much! :-)

Thank you so much. Yes. This was something rather different. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll do them very often. But hopefully it is a nice change from time to time.

Thank you so much. I had wondered what it was. This is precisely why I love the internet! :-)

😌😌😌

Thanks. I can’t remember the name. It is a Soviet-era song. I didn’t know it at the time. But if you scroll through the comments a few viewers have identified it. It was just good luck that I caught it. But it seemed to fit the video so well.

@@JamesKerLindsay Fit very well! Your good luck was to the benefit of all of us. Thanks.

It's here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/at2cgbyJ1d2Um30.html

Thank you so much Jon. I am glad you liked it. I'll head over to the other comments. Separately, I also wanted to say thank you very much for becoming channel member. I appreciate it enormously. It really does help. Needless to say, a very warm welcome! :-)

@@JamesKerLindsay Thank you James. My best wishes for a very successful 2022

@@JonLondrezos Thank you. And to you too!

Thanks Robert. But it is very difficult to do on-street interviews for a number of reasons. For a start, it is an extremely sensitive subject. Asking people about the war is not easy - especially when one doesn’t know a country and its ways very well. I had lots of conversations with people about it off camera. I tried to distill that into the video. Also, many people don’t speak English, it is widely spoken amongst the young. But older people speak Russian. Lastly, I didn’t want to make it a standard ‘news report’. I’ll leave that to the professional journalists. I wanted to do it as a reflection on what I saw and heard. Anyway, I hope it was useful in some way.

@@JamesKerLindsay given the points you made, it makes total sense and completely understandable not to conduct on-street interviews. In fact, I should have thought about my suggestion a bit further. Furthermore, this sort of "journal" style video with your critical reflections is actually a better fit and it was very useful indeed. As always, take care from snowy Toronto!

@@1234canadianguy Thanks Robert. Of course, all suggestion are gratefully received! And very best regards from London! :-)

Dear Anar, when one sees criminals like Ramil Safarov treated as heroes in Azerbaijan the destiny of Armenians living in Azerbaijan becomes obvious. Does this answer your question?

@@lernik4 thank you for your response. The problem is we lost our objectivity when we accuse each other without seeing our own mistakes. Of course, both side have rights to ask and query but neither Armenians or Azeris can say that we were innocent. We lived together during the soviet period peacefully and friendly where the main motto was "all people are equal" but when soviet collapsed war crimes, ethnic cleansing, pogroms, hate speech, racism begun. This was the worst thing in modern world because everything was controversial with ideology of Soviets. Imagine a country that won the war against fascists and was collapsed inside by fascists such a nice paradox.....Talking about Ramil Safarov, Baku, sumgayit pogroms in Azerbaijan or Khojaly masscare in Armenia is same and impossible we can only discuss it online platforms that is why we cannot solve this issue.And also it is really difficult to accept for people those who suffered during the war. So the interaction between the nations and economic improvement might help our society to pass these days.Because it the only way to get rid of our traumas.

@@anarakberov7173 When speaking about the criminal case of Safarov I wasn't speaking about Safarov himself. It has little to do with other events you mentioned. Safarov is obviously a murderer. He beheaded a sleeping person with an ax.. in a peaceful environment. And was sentenced to life imprisonment for that. But when I mentioned his case I was referring to Mr. Aliev's actions. When Safarov was extradited to Azerbaijan Aliev greeted the murderer as a hero, gave him a title, released him from prison and paid him a bunch of money 💰 And all of that was done PUBLICLY. Basically Aliev sent all of the Azerbaijanis a message that any Armenian can be killed and that is called "heroism" in Azerbaijan. Now when Aliev says Armenians can live securely in Azerbaijan why would anyone believe? Mind you it was in a peaceful environment in 2012, i.e. long after the first war and long before the next war

Dear Anar I don't want to say that all Azerbaijanis will kill Armenians. I know many great Azerbaijanis and have friends among them. And I actually understand that you and me can live peacefully together. What I'm saying is that unless Azerbaijani criminals get the deserved punishment on the territory of Azerbaijan, Armenians cannot believe in a safe life on the Azerbaijani territory

@@lernik4 Aliyev is a politician and he obviously knows that gaining the sympathy of nation is more important than outside respect. What if same thing happened in Armenia? Do you think that Armenian government would treat his soldier like a murderer or like a hero? Instead of asking something impossible to change in our society we should think what we can do or change. You know it is like a ladder and you have to go step by step not to jump. I can also ask you hard questions about the behaviour of Armenians. Like will Armenian government judge his people who did khojaly masscare? I watched the video of former president Serj Sarkisian, he talked how they prepared just like a simple event. Also, once Pashinyan denied khojaly masscare too. So as you see same thing happened and happens in Armenia. During the second Karabakh war Armenian army shelled Ganja and Barda which was the outside of war zone even they tried to bomb Minghacevir reservoir(if it collapsed I cannot imagine what would gonna happen). Such events didn't affect to lose believe of people on the contrary its increased hate and revenge seeking. I should recommend my Armenian neighbours think outside of the box don't follow the way of politicians. The war took everything from us, sometimes we lost our humanity. I know how people feel and I am so sorry for all of this tragedy that both side experienced.

Thank you very much indeed. It was such an interesting experience to visit Armenia, albeit under such difficult circumstances for the country.

Thanks so much. I’d love to do more videos like this from time to time. And points well taken!

This should be the top comment ^

Yesterday I visited Baku military Trophies Park 🤣

@@YALQUZAQ_AZ and you will of course be a virgin in the end

@@deusvult5247 Why yoy are not in Erablur with your p11s

If you again think to hold our territories with your military groupings, then a new war cannot be avoided.

Thanks. But it’s still a really raw topic. Sometimes it’s better not to try to collar people on the street on such sensitive issue. You’ll see that most news organisations covering the issue don’t do vox pops - I suspect for this very reason. But I spoke to lots and lots of people off camera and so distilled those views. And tried to add in lots of footage from around the city to give a flavour of the place. Also, there’s a practical issue. English, while widely spoken amongst the young, is not widely known amongst older people - even many middle aged. In any case, hopefully it was useful - even if it fell short if what you would have wanted.

Thank you so much. It was my first time in the country. I had always wanted to go and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It is just sad that it came at such a difficult time. But I must say that I loved Yerevan. So interesting and welcoming!

First thought you were a fellow Argentinian with that name

🙃

Thank you very much! :-)