Battlefield Bread: Nagorno-Karabakh Bakery Offers Free Loaves As Conflict Rages

A largely empty apartment block in Stepanakert on October 20. Stepanakert was home to some 55,000 people, mostly ethnic Armenians, before a major battle broke out on September 27 between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. Many residents have since fled to Armenia from the breakaway region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
 

Workers at a bakery in Stepanakert prepare bread on October 21. The ethnic Armenian owners of the business are handing out their signature 700-gram loaves of bread for free to those who’ve remained in the city.
 
 
 

A man emerges from the bakery with fresh loaves of bread.
 

Lena Ghevondian, a 55-year-old baker, says she has worked 12 hours every day at the bakery since the latest outbreak of fighting.
 

Ghevondian (left) works with colleagues to split the dough into portions before sliding it into an electric oven. The baker's 20-year-old son is currently fighting on the front lines of the battle for Nagorno-Karabakh. She told AFP:  "If my son is there, how could I leave here? I don't ask for anything else. My house can be destroyed, but I want my son near me."
 

Workers prepare dough for the oven.
 

Armen Saghian, the 31-year-old owner of the bakery that now works nonstop to supply Stepanakert's ethnic Armenian community with free bread.

Saghian says: "From the first day of the war we decided to give [bread] to residents for free and to work for the army too.... We don't have financial problems. We get calls from institutions wanting to help us, but we don't need it. If it is the case, we will turn to them." Saghian did not disclose the source of funding for his bakery.

Stepanakert residents pick up bread from the bakery.
 

A masked man walks home after picking up free loaves of bread. In addition to the ongoing conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan are struggling with a resurgence of COVID-19.

Loaves awaiting pickup in the bakery. The bakery also operates a delivery service for those who are unable to pick up the bread themselves. One driver said: "We deliver every day, whatever time people ask us to, at least six to eight times a day.... Danger is everywhere but we try to deliver wherever we can."