WOMEN TO THE FRONTLINE

When Seda Sedyan, a slight, serious 21-year-old, picks up her gun during target practice at Yerevan’s military academy that trains officers, she tries to imagine she’s facing the enemy. “It helps if you imagine you’re shooting someone”, she explained. Somehow it made it easier to concentrate, she said.

Seda is one of 23 female recruits who were admitted into the military academy in 2012. 2014 they were joined by a batch of 14 and 15-year-old girls at a military high school in Stepanakert, the capital of the self-proclaimed region that split from Azerbaijan in the 1990s. The young women are a first in conservative Armenia, where their peers are expected to stay at home and rear children. But faced with a declining population, as Armenians leave their country to seek better economic opportunities abroad and parents opt to have fewer children, the government has decided to admit women into the army. But not everyone at Yerevan Military Academy agrees: “Women shouldn’t be in the army, it’s not their role”, a physical instructor believes. “It’s just not good.”

Seda, for one, is determined not to give in: One day, she is sure, she will be serving on Armenia’s frontline with Azerbaijan. And then, if needs be, she won’t be afraid to shoot to kill. “Women can be cold-blooded if we have to”, she says.

Text: Naomi Conrad, 2015

Lena, 15, during clases at Stepanakert Military High School in the self-proclaimed region Nagorny Karabakh. She is one of the first 11 girls who were admitted into this military institution in 2016.

A destroyed building in Matarghis, a village in Nagorny Karabakh half a kilometre from the frontline with Azerbaijan, 03.09.2016. Matarghis is one of the villages that has been attacked during the April war 2016. For many of the girls in Karabakh the outbreak of the war was motivation for them to enter the military high school in Stepanakert.

Young women during physical development at the Military High School in Stepanakert, Nagorny Karabakh. Female students were first admitted to Military High School in 2015.

One of the teenage girls rests in their dormitory at Stepanakert Military High School in Nagorny Karabakh.

Drill ground at military high school in Stepanakert, where eleven girls study together with 120 male peers.

Women at the cementery of the fallen soldiers in Stepanakert after the independence march on the 02.09.2016

Students in their classroom in Stepanakerts Military High School.

Mariam Vardanyan, 21 and her friend spend time together after their daily routine at the military university. Despite the resistance that many of the young woman and girls faced, the experience created a bond between them.

Girls rest room, Stepanakert Military High School, Karabakh.

Seda, 21, and students are praying during lunch at Military University in Yerevan, Armenia. She is one of the 23 female students who entered for the first time in 2014 the military University in Armenias capital Yerevan.“Women can be cold-blooded, if we have to”, she says.

Students heading to lunch at the Military High School in Stepanakert, Nagorny Karabakh.

Girls on their way home to their dormitory at the Military High School in Yerevan. "I notice that still many people talk about us, but I don´t care", says one of the students.

Seda, 21, during shooting training at Military University in Yerevan, Armenia. “It helps if you imagine you’re shooting someone. Somehow it made it easier to concentrate," Seda explained.

Two girls chatting during free time, Yerevan Military University.

Students in their classroom at Military University in Yerevan. Female students were first admitted to the Military University in 2014.

Mariam and her friends spend time together after clases in the backyard of their dormitories in Yerevan. Despite the fact that many of the young women had family members who served in the military, there is still much resistance to their new role. “Women should not be in the army, it’s not their place,” one of the physical instructors at the Yerevan Military Academy says. “They are just not like men.”