Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus. Merzili. Soldiers with Kalashnikov and an officer, all wearing camouflage uniforms, are distant 450 meters from the front line of the ongoing fighting with Azerbaijan. The military men stand close to the memorial of Monte Melkonian (1957 - 1993) who was an Armenian revolutionary, left-wing nationalist militant and commander. He was the leader of an offshoot of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of...
more »

Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus. Merzili. Soldiers with Kalashnikov and an officer, all wearing camouflage uniforms, are distant 450 meters from the front line of the ongoing fighting with Azerbaijan. The military men stand close to the memorial of Monte Melkonian (1957 - 1993) who was an Armenian revolutionary, left-wing nationalist militant and commander. He was the leader of an offshoot of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) in the 1980s and the most celebrated commander during the Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988-1994). Monte Melkonian was killed in 1993 by Azerbaijani soldiers while surveying Merzili with five of his comrades in the aftermath of battle. A memorial has been built where he was killed. He was declared a National Hero of Armenia in 1996. Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed territory, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but most of the region is governed by the Republic of Artsakh (formerly named Nagorno-Karabakh Republic), a de facto independent state with Armenian ethnic population. The territory is under the control of the Artsakh Defense Army (which is backed up by Armenian Army) due to the ongoing territorial disputes with Azerbaijan. Merzili (also Mirasali) was a village and municipality in the Agdam Rayon of Azerbaijan. A Kalashnikov rifle is any one of a series of automatic rifles based on the original design of Mikhail Kalashnikov. They are officially known in Russian as "Avtomat Kalashnikova" , but are widely known as Kalashnikovs, AK47s, or as a "Kalash". 5.10.2019 © 2019 Didier Ruef
« less