Azerbaijan (MNN) — The month-long war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended last month with Azerbaijan largely taking back the territory it lost during the conflict in the early 1990s.
Russia brokered the cease-fire and has sent peacekeeping troops to the region to preside over the process. Azerbaijan gained the upper hand in the conflict using advanced military technology like drones, as well as with help from neighboring Turkey.
This photo shows an Armenian Apostolic church that was hit by shelling. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia commons, Public Domain)
A terrible cost
Eric Mock of Slavic Gospel Association says about 5,000 soldiers died in the conflict. Now, people who fled the fighting have begun to return. “The challenge is the fighting caused great destruction. Some people when they left were so fearful that they would never get their homes back that they actually burned their homes. The shelling destroyed other homes. Some people from Armenia that had left are returning to find other people living in their homes. There’s probably about 70,000 people that were displaced on both sides of the border.”
As winter arrives in the region, the local churches have been trying to supply people with blankets, heaters, and shelter. SGA works with several of these churches, providing them with resources to purchase these much-needed supplies.
Through SGA’s Immanuel’s Child program, you can even reach children in this war-torn region. Learn more here.
Persecution
But the situation could get worse for Christians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which changed hands from Armenia, an ethnically Christian country, to Azerbaijan, an ethnically Muslim nation, after the war.
Churches may not enjoy the same protections they did when the region was under Armenian control. Mock says, “We were hearing about Armenian Apostolic churches that were being desecrated by people that would break the crosses off the top of churches and paint Muslim slogans on the sides of the building. The regained territory for Christians is an area that may be more hostile for them.”
We need to pray that Christians in these regions would remain bold for Jesus and that He would comfort and strengthen them during a difficult time.
Pray also that as these Christians work to help those around them, many would see their care and be drawn to the love of Jesus.
The header photo shows a building destroyed by an Armenian missile strike. (Photo courtesy of Voice of America, Public Domain)
