Armenia – The Dark Years of the 1990s

The years from 1992 to 1995 are referred to by Armenians differently: years of cold, hunger, or hopelessness… But the most common and comprehensive name is “the dark years.” Due to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), Armenia ended up in a complete blockade.

Transit gas supplies to Armenia through Azerbaijan were blocked. Railways were frozen: cargoes passing through the Azerbaijani territory simply did not reach Armenia. From the south, Turkey officially announced a blockade of Armenia, closing the border and banning all land and air traffic.

The conflicts in Abkhazia and Ossetia made connecting with Russia by rail through Georgia impossible. The only route was through the road to the Georgian port of Poti, which physically could not provide Armenia with everything necessary.

The supply of food and, most importantly, grain and flour was interrupted back in those dark years as well. Part of the reason for that was the initiative of the Soviet and then the Russian government.

Almost everything stopped arriving, from soap and matches to energy carriers. The Armenian nuclear power plant was stopped in 1990, while the thermal power plants of Armenia didn’t work due to the absence of fuel oil and gas. An energy disaster has become inevitable.

Armenia in the 1990s was hell rather than a country. But this hell had honor, dignity, and faith in the future. The blockaded country, which’s situation was arguably worse than that of Leningrad during WWII, defeated the enemy that was backed up by Turkey and some Soviet troops. And Armenia did it without a single normal ally.

Armenia was ready not to eat, to freeze, and die, but win nonetheless. But I would not want the country to return to those times.

Today, we can have a much more independent, strong, and prosperous country, and nothing stands in our way, except for our own national traitors who now disregard that horrible path that our country went through.

Our main war thus is not with Azerbaijan or Turkey: these countries are irrelevant. They will not be able to do anything with Armenia that lives by its national interests. Unfortunately, the Armenian people always lose the most important war. Alas.

But we can win. Only realization and desire are necessary.