JEREVAN - For Armenians, the pomegranate symbolises the invincibility of the Armenian spirit. Pomegranates begin to ripen in September. Their skin dries up while the flesh becomes moist.
When the pomegranates are ripe, they burst open and the crimson seeds emerge. From October to December, they can be seen lying like shards on windowsills and coffee tables all over the country.
This autumn, photographer Emiel Petrovitch and writer Johannes Decat travelled to Armenia, hoping to capture pieces of that red-ripened Armenian soul.
It soon became clear that the country was at a pivotal moment in its history. On 19 September, neighbouring Azerbaijan seized the disputed Armenian exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Over 100,000 ethnic Armenians, accounting for the majority of the local population, fled to Armenia.
A month later, few people seem to be paying attention to Armenia. However, many questions remain unanswered. What will happen to the 100,000 refugees now living in Armenia? Can President Pashinyan remain in power? Is the country at risk of another attack, this time in the south? Now that both Russia and the EU are looking the other way, who can Armenia still count on? What path will the country take?
Looking for answers, Emiel and Johannes spoke to a variety of Armenians, ranging from human rights activists to farmers prepared to fight for their vision of a Greater Armenia. They had coffee with the mothers of fallen and missing soldiers and visited border villages where people have learned to live in the crosshairs of enemy snipers. You can read these stories and many more in a series of articles in MO* and Apache.
ONLINE/PRINT (Only in Dutch)
- Als de granaatappels rijp zijn, Apache, 8 december 2023.
- Als de granaatappels rijp zijn, MO*, 6 december 2023.
