The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic greets its visitors with a big sign reading: "Free Artsakh Welcomes You". This brief sentence is the quintessence of the two-decade-long fight for independence of this tiny country – an easternmost 11,458-sq.-km part of the Armenian land defended by an ethnic Armenian army.
Last week was my first time visiting military outposts along the frontline in Karabakh as part of a trip by a larger group of journalists invited by the military authorities. During that journey I was having some mixed feelings about the whole thing as my son, now 16, will reach the call-up age in two years' time. On the one hand I indulged in the feeling of rising patriotism inside me, on the other hand I kept asking myself: "Would I mind Hakob's serving in Artsakh, going up to combat outposts near frontline positions dug only a few hundred meters from enemy trenches and under a close watch of enemy troops keeping their fingers on the trigger?" Am I that brave and patriotic parent to let my son to be taken to serve in a place where risks are not only potential, but very, very real?
Armenian News
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