Armenian war veterans answer call to fight against Azerbaijan

When Simon Kakoyan last fought a war to claim Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, he was in his early 20s and armed only with a hunting rifle. Now, three decades on, the battle to keep the territory in Armenian hands is being fought with hi-tech drones and laser-guided missiles.

But that has not stopped Mr Kakayan, now 55, answering the call of duty again. At an age when most men might be thinking about retirement, he has joined thousands of other Armenians in signing up to defend Nagorno-Karabakh in the latest bout of war with neighbouring Azerbaijan.

Ever since fighting broke out in the disputed enclave last weekend, the offices of the “Defenders of the Land” veteran's association in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, have been packed with ex-servicemen signing up for volunteer units.

It is not so much a Dad's Army as a Granddad's Army, with many recruits well into their 50s or 60s. But while some may now have grey hair and pot bellies, fighting spirit is not in short supply.  

"I have come here to defend the homeland, because this coming war could be as bad as the one we fought 30 years ago," said Mr Kakoyan, as he waited in a courtyard with hundreds of other volunteers, many sporting military fatigues and hunting knives. "It doesn't matter if I am not young anymore, I can still do my bit."

According to the Armenian media, some 7,000 carloads of volunteers headed from Yerevan to Nagorno-Karabakh within 24 hours of fighting breaking out last Sunday.

Each side is already claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on the other, while accusing the other of targeting civilians.

Azerbaijan has not acknowledged military casualties but its Prosecutor General's Office said 55 civilians had been hospitalised and 16 people killed by Armenian shelling. Armenia has reported the deaths of 104 soldiers, alongside seven civilians killed and 31 wounded.

Two French reporters from Le Monde newspaper and two Armenian journalists were also wounded by Azeri artillery fire on the town of Martuni on Thursday, the Armenian government reported. Such casualties have not deterred younger Armenian volunteers, many of whom were not even born during the original war in which Armenian-dominated Nagorno Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijani control.

"We are here today to go and fight, but yes, we are all scared," said Gurgan Yereitsayan, 22, who had turned up to the Defenders of the Land office with a large group of young friends.

The stream of recruits of all ages reflects the sense of pride with which Armenians regard Nagorno-Karabakh, where an estimated 30,000 people died during six years of brutal combat with Azeri forces between 1988 and 1994.

Despite the volunteers’ enthusiasm, there are concerns in Armenia that oil-rich Azerbaijan - now much wealthier than it was in the early 1990s - may today wield the upper hand militarily.

While the original war was fought by two rag-tag ex-Soviet armies with roughly even weaponry, today Azerbaijan has invested in high-tech drone missiles capable of knocking out Nagorno-Karabakh's well dug-in defensive positions.

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry has released numerous clips of aerial footage showing Armenian military vehicles exploding after being targeted by weaponised drones.

The Azeri forces also have strategic backing this time from Turkey, which has been accused by Armenia of hiring 4,000 Syrian jihadist mercenaries to fight on behalf of Azerbaijan.

While no firm evidence has yet emerged of the Syrian mercenaries' presence, soldiers of fortune have fought in Nagorno Karabakh before. During the original conflict in the 1990s, mercenaries from Afghanistan and Chechnya played an important role on the Azeri aside, while Russian and Ukrainian guns for hire fought on both sides.

Leyla Abdullayeva, the head of media at Azerbaijan’s foreign affairs ministry, denied the use of Syrian mercenaries, saying “Armenia is behind these allegations, which are not based on any facts”.

Whatever the truth of the matter, the spectre of Islamic extremists running amok among Nagorno-Karabakh's Christian Armenians has proved a powerful recruitment tool.

"We have heard the reports about the 4,000 Syrian mercenaries coming over," said veteran Vardan Melkonian, 47, who turned up at the recruitment centre wearing a utility vest containing Kalashnikov magazines. "But that is Azerbaijan for you - they need to pay people to come to fight, and to get Turkey involved. We Armenians do not need to do that, we will fight for ourselves."

A defiant Turkey has thrown its support behind its ally Azerbaijan and on Thursday opposed a joint call for an immediate ceasefire issued by France, Russia and the United States. "Given that the USA, Russia and France have neglected this problem for nearly 30 years, it is unacceptable that they are involved in a search for a ceasefire," President Recept Tayyip Erdogan told his parliament.

With neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan so far taking up offers of Russian-brokered peace talks, many predict that Azerbaijan will now attempt to seize the advantage, using its extra air power to regain strategic positions lost during the original conflict.

Dominating the ground, though, could embroil Azeri troops into a protracted guerrilla war that many Armenians would be only too willing to fight. In many Armenian families, grandfathers, fathers and sons are now all back on active service on the Nagorno-Karabakh frontiers, and having spilled blood to claim the territory as a homeland 30 years ago, they are willing to bleed again to keep it that way.

"Even my wife clapped when I told her I was volunteering to fight," smiled Mr Melkonian.