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'You have to be ready for war': Legacy of limbo in Armenia after loss of Nagorno-Karabakh There’s a thick smell of incense in the air. It’s a Sunday morning and grieving mothers and fathers are bringing fresh flowers to the graves of sons who were killed in Armenia’s 35-year conflict with Azerbaijan. In Yerablur military cemetery, high above the Armenian capital city, Yerevan, the dates on the headstones chart a history of the fighting for the disputed mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Rows and rows of Armenian soldiers killed during the first war, which lasted from 1988 to 1994, are buried here one after the other. Walk on a little farther and you begin to pass all the graves of the men who died during a 44-day war launched by Azerbaijan in 2020. A final, lightning quick offensive from Azerbaijan in 2023 took control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a devastating blow to Armenia, which forced 100,000 ethnic Armenians living in the enclave to flee their homes, possibly never to return. One mother, Albina, explains how her 19-year-old son was killed by a grenade in the second Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020. “This is my son,” she says, resting her hand on the tombstone and wiping away tears. He was the youngest of three boys. “Every day we come... https://www.irishtimes.com/world/2026/05/17/you-have-to-be-ready-for-war-legacy-of-limbo-in-armenia-after-loss-of-nagorno-karabakh/