Azerbaijan’s push for territory has forced thousands to flee. Reporter Taija PerryCook spoke with local communities about erasure and resilience.

Azerbaijan launched an offensive in September to claim land that Armenians have long considered home.

The move has driven about 100,000 ethnic Armenians from the disputed territory, known as both Nagorno-Karabakh and Artsakh, and raised fears of ethnic cleansing.

Over the past year, reporter Taija PerryCook spoke with Armenians in Washington, who watched from afar as tensions heightened.

In this episode of Crosscut Reports, PerryCook and host Maleeha Syed discuss the history of the region and how decades of war and erasure are affecting local Armenian community members. Many describe a need for more awareness of what’s happening — and a confidence that their culture will prevail.

Read our full report on what Armenian communities in Washington have to say here.  

---

Host/Producer: Maleeha Syed and Sara Bernard 

Reporter: Taija PerryCook

Executive producer: Sarah Menzies

---

If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle’s PBS station, KCTS 9.