YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. The small republic of Nagorno Karabakh in the Caucasus is deeply patriarchal, but for the last several years, more and more women have been rising to positions of leadership in the government, courts and universities. The development has changed the country, the German Spiegel news website published an article which is titled “A Woman's World in the Caucasus: Nagorno Karabakh's Grand Experiment”, reports Armenpress.

“A woman is standing in a basement in the Caucasus. In her early 40s, she is wearing jeans and her black hair falls loosely to her shoulders. She points to the corner where she once huddled with her family as a young woman and indicates the staircase where a shell bored into her brother's body. She shows the crate out of which she pulled the Kalashnikov every time her father went to the front.

The woman who is leading the way through the basement, a cellar that used to be used for food storage before becoming a bomb shelter, is Armine Aleksanyan, the deputy foreign minister of Nagorno Karabakh”, the article writes, adding that she is a woman with power and pride.

Spiegel writes that Armine Aleksanyan, thanks to an historic opportunity, has risen to a position that she otherwise never would have been allowed to take, especially in this “macho republic”, a place where men are in the military, guard the borders and shout orders. 

“Many women in Nagorno Karabakh have their own careers and lead independent lives, but they refrain from constantly rubbing it in the noses of their men. The result is that, even if there is no peace in the country, there is at least peace between the genders and in the families”, the article states.

It also touched upon Artsakh’s former culture minister Narine Agabalyan, stating that her staff was almost 80 percent women. Currently she is the minister of education. The news website writes that initially she worked as a television journalist, reporting on war, losses, but soon she decided to look for a new career path and entered into politics. “What you won't hear from either women or men here are stories of paternalism or officiousness that women must endure from male colleagues or men at large despite the large number of women in leadership positions”, Spiegel writes, quoting minister Agabalyan’s words who said the Artsakh women are unfamiliar with violence. She said with proud that she can't think of any other country in the world that is safer for women than Artsakh.

English –translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan